Awards
- Bicentennial Medal - 2019
About Sharon G. Johnson-Shirley
Shirley received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Bloomington, a master’s degree from Indiana University Northwest, an administrative license from Purdue University, Calumet Campus, and obtained her doctorate degree from Loyola University.
Shirley is superintendent of the Lake Ridge New Tech Schools, a position she has held for over a decade. Through strategic planning and thoughtful processing Shirley successfully lead the turn-around-team to a victory of academic success resulting in the school being taken off academic probation. The success has been maintained to this date. Shirley was also instrumental in planning and sustaining two very important initiatives in her school district. The first initiative was the planning and creation of a clinic that services the school and the local community as well. Secondly, she established the first New Tech High School in Northwest, Indiana that has led to the implementation of a New Tech Middle School that The New Tech Network uses as a national training site. Previously, she has worked as a teacher, principal, director of curriculum, and assistant superintendent. Additionally, she serves as a member of the Board of Advisors, Executive Committee Member, and Chair-Elect for Indiana University Northwest. A founding member of the Lake Ridge Schools’ Education Foundation, Shirley serves on a board of directors for Edgewater Behavioral Health Systems, Inc. She has served as a member of the Executive board of Indiana Public Schools’ Superintendents Executive Board as District 1 Chair as well as Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy. In 2013 Shirley was appointed by State Superintendent Glenda Ritz to the Indiana Department of Education Special Education Advisory Board.
Shirley has been a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority since 1974 and has been a member of Phi Delta Kappa for over thirty years. She has been an active member of the Gary alumnae Chapter Inc. and serves on the Social Action Committee. She served as a member of the Lakeshore Alliance for Student Success (LASS); the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents (IAPSS Executive Committee); the Northwest Indiana Special Education Cooperative; the Northwest Indiana Public School Study Council, a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum, Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents, Northwest Indiana Education Service Center (NWIESC), an active member of the National Affiliate of National School Board Association, and Indiana School Boards Association and a member of NABSE National Alliance of Black School Educators. Shirley is active in the Indiana Urban Schools Association, and supports the American Heart Association, United Way, and the March of Dimes. Shirley has received numerous honors and recognition for her expertise, including being chosen by members of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents as the 2013 and 2014 District I Superintendent of the Year. Also, in 2013 and 2016 she was nominated to be a finalist In the Influential Women of Northwest Indiana Awards Ceremony. In 2019, Shirley was awarded Indiana University’s Bicentennial Medal, in recognition of her distinguished contributions and service to the field of education.