Specializing in foreign language education, Otilia Lucila Salmon-Johnson has earned distinction as a notable educator over the course of her four-decade-long career. For the past 34 years, she has excelled as an associate professor for the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, focusing her efforts on teaching English as a second language courses, as well as coordinating the program for Spanish and French language studies. She primarily teaches young people or paraprofessionals who are working as teaching assistants.
As an extension of language education, Dr. Salmon also teaches her students about different cultures from around the world. In addition, she enriches them in a program called Ladder of Success. For Dr. Salmon, no culture is greater than another, as she finds them to all be parallel with one another because each has its unique style. Through her teaching, she hopes to teach people not to want to change others but instead, to make them more aware of the differences that arise from differing cultural backgrounds.
In order to remain abreast of new developments in her field, Dr. Salmon maintains affiliation with a number of professional organizations. These include the Florida Association of Multicultural Educators, the TESOL International Association, the National Association for Bilingual Education and the National Association for Multicultural Education, for which she has served as a regional director. At the civic level, she is also involved with Altrusa International Inc., an international non-profit organization focused on community service.
In the earlier years of her career, Dr. Salmon spent a decade as an education officer in Jamaica. She has also lent her skills as a translator and interpreter for the World Health Organization. Among her professional accomplishments, she is proud to have been admitted to the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania for her service to her community and chosen as the first scholar of the Benito Juarez Scholarship Award, which is named in honor of the former president of Mexico.
Dr. Salmon attributes much of her success to the influence of her parents, Alfred Thefoleous Salmon and Cleopatra Inthe. In addition, she notes that her experiences traveling to different parts of the world opened her mind to different cultures and languages, which have become the focus of her professional work. Through her travels, she gained a wealth of unique experiences that have shown her how brilliant students around the world may not have access to the education or proper resources they need to succeed.
To prepare for her professional journey, Dr. Salmon earned a master’s degree in foreign languages and literature from the University of Veracruz in Xalapa, Mexico. She then attained a Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American studies from the University of Florida in 1982. She has also completed a fellowship program with the Organization of American States.
Within the coming years, Dr. Salmon intends to write a book on her own life story, serving as a beacon of inspiration for others who want to progress in similar lines of work. Her ultimate goal is to work toward providing resources to educational institutions worldwide so that each student can fulfill their potential. A distinguished Marquis listee, Dr. Salmon was born in Honduras and presently resides in Jacksonville, Florida. She is married to Ronald Edward Johnson.
