LSUS doctoral student overcomes stroke, open heart surgery to walk stage

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LSUS doctoral student overcomes stroke, open heart surgery to walk stage

SHREVEPORT - Just like the more than 700 other LSU Shreveport graduates attending Friday's commencement in person, Brian Johnson walked across the stage at Brookshire Grocery Arena to receive his diploma.

But that journey across the stage was very much in doubt for the NASA project engineer.

Johnson suffered a stroke on Oct. 27 and then needed open heart surgery (quintuple bypass) after a blood clot was discovered in his brain.

The Houston resident spent more than a month in hospital and rehabilitation settings, using a wheelchair at first, then a walker, gradually regaining mobility and daily life functions.

He slowly returned to his job, working remotely, then part time and came back to the office full time this month.

But Johnson didn't let his dissertation and remaining coursework slip through the cracks, and he completed his portion of a joint dissertation with classmates Jason Pierce and Timothy Johnson.

The trio met in person for first time at Thursday's commencement welcome with shirts reading "You can call me doctor" after finishing their doctoral degrees in leadership studies.

"My classmates sent me a letter and flowers when I was in the hospital, and we said we were all walking across the stage together in May," Johnson said. "It was a lot of hard work to get here, but it's an amazing feeling to be here.

"Speech was my biggest hurdle. Cognitively, I was all there. But I really worried about defending my dissertation and contributing in that respect. How do you perform a defense if you can't speak well? But I worked as hard as I could to recover, and I did well enough."

Wife Brenda Jones recognized her husband's feet were dragging while getting ready for work one morning, ignoring her husband's assertions that "he was fine."

Brian Jones leaned heavily into that support system on this journey.

"I realized he was having a stroke," said Brenda Jones, who added that she changed jobs in the adoption services field from a state entity to a community entity during the later stages of the recovery process. "We have a six-year-old daughter Victoria, and I would stay in the hospital during the day while my mom Jeannie stayed nights so I could be with Victoria.

"To hear them say 'Dr. Brian Christopher Jones' is just incredible."

Jones is incredibly thankful for his family and for his classmates.

"The support system was fantastic - I couldn't ask for more," Brian Jones said. "My wife understood when I had a class or paper due.

"And these guys (dissertation partners) are great. We chat on the GroupMe all the time, and it's great to finally meet them in person."

The quality of classmate is a huge draw as LSUS doctoral students participate in deep and complicated discussions via weekly Zoom meetings in each class.

"Your classmates are incredible people from all kinds of backgrounds - from military to NASA to the corporate world," said newly minted Dr. Tim Johnson, a dissertation partner of Jones and Indianapolis resident. "There's a blending of a lot of different viewpoints and backgrounds, and there's valuable discussion with no judgement."

Dr. Christina Cravey of Longview, Texas, recalls one student who would log in for class from a a Starbucks in Afghanistan at 3 a.m. local time.

Cravey pursued the program to transition from healthcare management to a teaching role in healthcare or leadership.

Dr. Jason Pierce is also aiming for a career change as he's retiring from the Marine Corps as a Chief Warrant Officer 5, one of most difficult ranks to achieve.

"I think this will open career pathways after my retirement," Pierce said. "I learned more from my classmates than any other source, and our professors said that would likely happen.

"The books we read were great, but the best part were the discussions."

Support systems were integral for the 10 doctoral students who crossed the stage, but one undergraduate student turned from the support to the student herself.

English graduate Marlana Daigle first interacted with LSUS by driving her son to class.

"That made me want to come back to school, and I asked my son if he'd be embarrassed if I was on campus, too," said Daigle, a Shreveport resident. "We agreed not to take the same classes.

"I want to travel with this degree, writing and possibly teaching English as a second language overseas."

Brendan Anderson loved the intimate setting and support he received from LSUS after he and his brother Landrum transferred from LSU Baton Rouge.

"It feels super personal here, and the classes are very engaging," said Anderson, an English graduate with a concentration in literary studies. "I found that I loved literature and read a lot of things here that I otherwise wouldn't have come across.

"I'm going to take a year off before going to graduate school."

Landrum Anderson graduated in applied mathematics from LSUS in December, and he's starting a master's program in Alaska.

Ikeeanta Davis was encouraged to explore LSUS's MBA program as a way to stay in touch with her Louisiana roots.

The Dallas-Fort Worth resident, who is from New Orleans, chose LSUS because of the affordability and familiarity.

"This degree is helping me move toward project management," said Davis, who works in a manufacturing estimation department. "My concentrations are in project management and data analysis, and I'm already getting more project work with my team."

Miami native Alejandro Arenas found LSUS through a Google search, and he said he is enriching his career as an accountant through his MBA.

Milwaukee native Jocelyn Miller brought her three children and boyfriend with her to celebrate her MBA degree, which is her second master's degree.

"It's awesome to come and connect with your classmates in person," Miller said of coming to the ceremony. "I'm in the medical device industry in research and development, and what I've learned in project management will help me transition to more of an operations role."

While traditional college graduates are entering a relatively difficult job market described as a "low-hire, low-fire" environment, Alaina Atnip has a job in hand when she crossed the stage.

Atnip has worked for three years as a journalist at Red River Radio with her stories regularly appearing on the public radio airwaves.

"It was stressful writing in my English classes and then writing for work, but I'm very excited to continue with the radio station," Atnip said. "I was looking for experience in the media after transferring to LSUS, and Red River Radio was looking for help.

"Public radio is cool, and I can't wait to keep going."

Continuing to persevere in trying times was the underlying theme of commencement speaker Pam Atchison's address.

The longtime executive director of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council relayed the story of "The Little Engine That Could" in her booming theatre voice, providing examples of her own story after her organization's building burned in 2009.

"I was appalled at the worst-case scenarios we studied in our (human services administration master's classes) at LSUS, but every single one of those things happened in the years after I graduated," Atchison told graduates. "Even after 20 years of success, failure was palpable. But LSUS prepared me for every crisis.

"Failure opened a whole new world of possibilities like the CentralART Station (new offices) and Shreveport Common (nine-block urban arts community)."