Gertrude I. Johnson (1876-1961) was a college-educated American teacher and co-founder of Johnson & Wales Business School.
Gertrude I. Johnson (1876-1961) was a college-educated American teacher and co-founder of Johnson & Wales Business School.
Gertrude Irene Johnson was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1876. [1] She attended Pennsylvania State Normal School (now Millersville University of Pennsylvania) in Millersville, Pennsylvania, graduating 1895. [2]
After receiving a master's degree in 1897, Johnson taught in public schools, then worked in a bank for five years, before returning to teaching at Bryant and Stratton Business School in Providence, Rhode Island (now Bryant University). [2] It was there she teamed up with her old Pennsylvania Normal School classmate Mary T. Wales, who was also teaching at Bryant, to found their own business school. [2]
In 1914, with fellow teacher Mary T. Wales, she co-founded Johnson & Wales Business School in Providence, Rhode Island. [2] It has grown into the present-day Johnson & Wales University, with four campuses in the United States.
With Mary in poor health, the two women sold the business school in June 1947 [2] and retired together in Warwick, Rhode Island. [1] Mary died of cancer in 1952. [2] After Mary's death, Gertrude returned to her hometown of Norristown, Pennsylvania and died there in 1961. [2]
Norristown is a municipality with home rule status and the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Located along the Schuylkill River, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) from the Philadelphia city limits, Norristown had a population of 35,748 as of the 2020. It is the fourth most populous municipality in the county and second most populous borough in Pennsylvania.
A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turning out primary school teachers. Many such schools are now called teacher training colleges or teachers' colleges, but in Mexico, continue to be called normal schools, with student-teachers being known as normalistas. Many schools currently require a high school diploma for entry, and may be part of a comprehensive university. Normal schools in the United States, Canada, and Argentina trained teachers for primary schools, while in Europe, the equivalent colleges typically educated teachers for primary schools and later extended their curricula to also cover secondary schools.
Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fall of 2020. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
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Mary T. Wales (1874–1952) was a college-educated teacher and co-founder of Johnson & Wales Business School in Providence, Rhode Island.
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