Michelle John

Dr. Michelle John, formerly Dr. Michelle Penn-Marshall, is a tenured professor in the Department of Biology and the Inaugural Vice President for Research and Innovation at Texas Southern University (Texas Southern), where she provides strategic leadership for the university’s research enterprise, innovation ecosystem, and sponsored programs infrastructure. She oversees 14 research centers and institutes and leads development of the $40 million, 100,000-square-foot Catalyst for Urban Transformation, an interdisciplinary hub advancing research, entrepreneurship, technology, education, and community engagement to address critical urban challenges. She also leads a $20 million community health, wellness, and educational training building project designed to expand integrated health services, workforce development, and applied research capacity in partnership with the surrounding community.

She directed the $2 million launch of the Institute for Urban Public Health & Housing, a community-centered research and engagement hub addressing the social determinants of health. The Institute was opened in October 2025 and advances housing advocacy partnerships, workforce and professional development, expanded health research, increased access to medical and wellness services, structured K–12 mentoring and STEM programming, and centralized community engagement.

Under her leadership, Texas Southern has achieved transformational research growth, including a 34.8% increase in expenditures and a 117% increase in funded awards. The university’s research portfolio continues to expand demonstrating accelerating competitiveness. Texas Southern was selected to host a Naval Opportunity Awareness Workshop and will host the Navy’s FreshSTART program for the second consecutive summer, further strengthening federal partnerships. She executed a NASA Space Act Agreement with Johnson Space Center and a memorandum of understanding with Brookhaven National Laboratory. She currently leads a $4.9 million U.S. Department of Education grant to expand research productivity, recruit faculty, strengthen infrastructure, and build strategic academic and industry partnerships, and serves as co-PI on National Science Foundation grants focused on advancing tenure and promotion systems. She designed and is staffing Texas Southern’s Technology Transfer and Commercialization office.

Previously, she served as Vice President for Research, Associate Provost, and Dean of the Graduate College at Hampton University, where she helped increase federal grants and contracts by 78% in one year and supported the development of a $13.5 million biomedical research facility. A tenured professor with more than 16 years of experience in higher education, she has secured and led numerous grants to expand STEM pathways, doctoral attainment, and faculty development. She has an established record of co-authored publications related to tenure and promotion, reflecting her engagement in advancing faculty development and academic progression.

She holds a B.A. and M.S. in Biology from Hampton University and a Ph.D. in Community Nutrition from Virginia Tech and was recently appointed as the chair of the Universities Space Research Association Historically Black Colleges and Universities Science and Technology (USRA HBCU S&T) Council.