Bethany Johnson

Bethany L. Johnson (MPhil) is a doctoral candidate (ABD) in the history of science, technology, and the environment at the University of South Carolina and a research affiliate faculty in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She explores how institutions and individuals create, normalize, and reproduce science, medical technology, and public health discourse from the nineteenth century to the present. Specifically, she studies the history of epidemics, endocrinology, and reproductive health. She has published in various journals, including Health Communication, Qualitative Research in Medicine and Healthcare, Social History of Medicine, Journal of Holistic Nursing, Women's Reproductive Health, and Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society. Most recently, she was the Albert M. Greenfield Research Fellow for the Consortium of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (2022-2023). Her book, co-authored with Dr. Margaret M. Quinlan, You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise is available now through Rutgers University Press.

Photo Credit: Piper Warlick Photography


public facing digital projects

(LEFT): Scitube video; Exploring Community Responses to the Plague in the 16th Century | (RIGHT): Novelty of Doom podcast; National Humanities Center Podcast Institute


academic work

Selected Publications 

Selected Scholarly Book Reviews 

    Spontaneous Generations   Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era     |   Ohio Valley History   

Selected Scholarly Service Work

 Academy   |   University of North Carolina at Charlotte   | Community 

 

Selected Invited Lectures/Panels

 Infertility Research: Praxis and Embodiment

Davidson College: Davidson, NC

 6 DPO, (TMI) and cervical mucus: (In)fertility, lay medical advice, and the language of Instagram

Clemson University’s Social Media Listening Center

 Issues Researching (In)fertility

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

 Gendered Bodies in Health Communication: Twilight Sleep

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Women’s History Month Panel

Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte NC



Honors and Awards

Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (2022-2023)

Alfred M. Greenfield Fellow

Wilfred and Rebecca Callcott Award (2022-2023)

Excellence in Historical Research, University of South Carolina

Department of History Award for Excellence in Teaching Assistantship (2022)

University of South Carolina

Robert H. Wienefeld Essay Prize for “The Johnes of Glasgow: Searching and Municipal Power in the Plague (2021)

Outbreaks of 1574-1605, Department of History, University of South Carolina

Creative Expression Award, Organization for the Study of Communication, Language & Gender (2018)

Organization for the Study of Communication

Feminist Teacher-Mentor Award, The Organization for the Study of Language, Gender and Communication (2017)

Organization for the Study of Language, Gender and Communication

Outstanding Competitive Paper Award (2017)

Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, & Gender


See my work at Black Past, Psychology Today, and on Research Gate or Google Scholar.

As an educator

Courses Taught

LBST 2101: The History of Epidemics in the Western World

LBST 2102: Surviving: Women and Children in the Western World

HIST 1161: US History Since 1877

HIST 2000: "Lotions, Potions, Pills, and Magic:" Early American Medicine, 1650-1850

HIST 2151: US Women's History Since 1877

HST 357: Women in American History

HST 113: World Civilizations I

HST 114: World Civilizations II

INT 112: Foundations for Excellence

Mentoring and Supervision

|  21 Undergraduate Student Independent Studies &Internships  | 

|  16 Graduate Student Independent Studies & Research Assistantships  |  

 

Professional Affiliations

American Association for the History of Medicine

History of Science Society, Women’s Caucus

Women in Technological History (WITH), a special interest group within SHOT

The Organization of American Historians

The Organization for the Study of Language, Gender, and Communication


As a consultant 

"Empowering Infertility," Inner Peace Acupuncture of Charlotte, NC

Advised Adrienne Wei, L.Ac, Mstom FABORM, on the structure and content for modules in an online course, including citation, relevant sources, editing,

and integrating multiple learning styles for online learners. 

Qualitative Data Analyst, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Performed analysis of qualitative data on practitioner-patient communication in REI settings, coding and metaphor study.

A Beautiful Remedy, Documentary Film

Film awarded National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Ohio Valley Chapter Emmy Award in 2014

Sound and Story Project, Nyack Library of Nyack, NY

Digitally archived and transcribed a series of interviews taken over 30 years. The Hudson Valley Heritage Project: "Voices of the Hudson River Valley."


Education

Doctor of Philosophy (ABD), History of Science, Technology and the Environment

University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina

Master of Philosophy, Development Studies

The Centre for Development Studies, University of Glasgow; Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Master of Arts, American Studies

The New School for Social Research, New School University; New York, NY

Bachelor of Arts, History

Nyack College, Nyack, NY