Distinguished Alumni Award


Mark Johnson 73MA

2016 Achievement Award

Mark Johnson, 73MA, is a critically acclaimed television and film producer whose impressive body of work has helped shape America's cultural milieu.

Thanks to a host of blockbuster hits, including the Oscar-winning Rain Man and the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Breaking Bad, Johnson has entertained a generation of movie and television fans since his days as a University of Iowa film student.

What began as a childhood passion for Johnson evolved into a highly successful career that has yielded more than 40 films and television shows. Johnson was born in Washington, D.C., but spent several of his formative years in Spain. While there, he worked as an extra in films such as Dr. Zhivago and Nicholas and Alexandra. These opportunities led to a couple of minor movie roles before Johnson went on to complete a B.A. degree in drama from the University of Virginia and enroll at the UI.

"He came to us with more professional experience than is the norm, and it seemed natural for him to keep his hand in the nuts and bolts of filmmaking," recall two of his former UI professors, Franklin Miller and Dudley Andrew. "We remember his witty short film that offered up a travelogue-style tour of Iowa City as it if were Paris. Very 1970s."

"Mark's gift is that he makes intelligent films and programs that strive to do more than entertain—they consistently inspire, they educate, and they tell the truth about people and their stories."

Shortly after graduating from Iowa, the young producer landed one of the first Directors Guild of America traineeships, allowing him to assist on William Friedkin's existential thriller, Sorcerer, which became widely known for its production difficulties. After cutting his teeth on such experiences, Johnson made a name for himself as a talented leader with a knack for collaborating with others.

From 1982 to 1994, he produced all of writer-director Barry Levinson's films, including Good Morning, Vietnam; The Natural; Tin Men; Avalon; Diner; and the Oscar-nominated Bugsy. Johnson's more recent filmography includes The Chronicles of Narnia franchise, The Little Princess, The Notebook, Galaxy Quest, and The Secret in Their Eyes.

Beyond the big screen, Johnson has served as the executive producer of the award-winning AMC drama Breaking Bad and of SundanceTV's Peabody Award-winning show Rectify. He's also the executive producer of two AMC shows, Better Call Saul and Halt and Catch Fire.

Fellow UI graduate Karen Possner, 75PhD, says, "Mark's gift is that he makes intelligent films and programs that strive to do more than entertain—they consistently inspire, they educate, and they tell the truth about people and their stories."

Such accomplishments have earned him a spot on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and as chair of the academy's foreign language film selection committee. In addition, Johnson is the founder of the Children's Action Network, which uses the power of the entertainment industry to help find homes for children in need of adoption.

Through an impressive body of work that consistently thrills and uplifts, Mark Johnson has made significant contributions to American pop culture while capturing the attention of millions of people around the world.


About Distinguished Alumni Awards

Since 1963, the University of Iowa has annually recognized accomplished alumni and friends with Distinguished Alumni Awards. Awards are presented in seven categories: Achievement, Service, Hickerson Recognition, Faculty, Staff, Recent Graduate, and Friend of the University.


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A celebrated conductor returns to the School of Music to inspire the newest crop of Iowa musicians. PHOTO: Miranda Meyer Ann Howard Jones serves as guest conductor for the UI's Kantorei choral ensemble and the University Choir on March 8 in Voxman Music Building. From Boston to Brazil, Ann Howard Jones has guided generations of budding musicians who, like her, have gone on to reach some of the world's biggest stages. Now in retirement, the influential conductor continues to inspire students, particularly in her home state of Iowa. PHOTO: Miranda Meyer Ann Howard Jones leads the UI's Kantorei choral ensemble and the University Choir on March 8 in Voxman Music Building. One of the conducting world's most admired educators, Jones (64BM, 66MA, 84DMA) returned to the University of Iowa last month as a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni fellow. Jones served as guest conductor in a rousing performance by the UI's Kantorei choral ensemble and the University Choir in Voxman Music Building, where she shared the baton with UI director of choral activities Timothy Stalter. During her visit, Jones also hosted a film screening of Robert Shaw: Man of Many Voices, a documentary about her former mentor, and spent time with School of Music students in the classroom. Jones made a name for herself as assistant conductor to the famed Robert Shaw with the Atlanta Symphony from 1984 to 1998 and served as director of choral activities at Boston University for 23 years. Her r?sum? also includes a Fulbright professorship in Brazil and numerous honors from the nation's leading choral organizations. Since retiring from Boston University in 2016, Jones has served as a visiting professor at colleges around the country. A native of the small northeast Iowa town of Cresco, Jones was often the only woman in her conducting classes when she came to the UI in the 1960s. A female conductor from the Midwest didn't exactly have an inside track to Carnegie Hall, but Jones had a couple advantages: her world-class education from the UI and a fearless will to succeed. Now, she's giving back to her alma mater. Jones recently established the Ann Howard Jones Vocal Ensemble Residency Program, which brings a group of professional singers to the UI each fall to perform and teach. The program debuted last year with a residency by Lorelei Ensemble, an all-female group from Boston. Jones is also in the process of donating her extensive collection of music, books, and memorabilia to the UI Rita Benton Music Library. Iowa Magazine sat down with Jones during her recent visit to Voxman. Here's our conversation, edited for length and clarity. You retired a few years ago, but it doesn't sound like you've slowed down much. You think, "What if the phone doesn't ring ever again? What will I do with myself?" But somehow I'm saying no to more things than I can say yes to. I've had the opportunity to go a lot of different places, which has been very interesting. Sometimes I'm teaching a conducting class, sometimes I'm teaching individual students, sometimes I'm supervising recitals. What I like is the challenge of figuring out what the situation needs that I can provide?what the student needs that I can help with. And I get to see what's going on in my field all over the country. How did the new residency you're sponsoring at the UI take shape? I've had this idea for a long time that it would be wonderful to bring excellent vocal chamber music to the students because of the outstanding vocal talent here in Iowa. It gives students an opportunity to see that it's possible to have a career as a singer in a small ensemble. You don't have to be a music teacher or an opera star?although you can be. But this is another opportunity. The residency is not just a performance, it's also master classes and lectures. In the case of Lorelei, the leader gave a lecture on women's choral music to students in the graduate conducting program. The interchange with students and faculty is a very important part of this. When you were starting out, were there many opportunities for female conductors? Let's put it this way, when I was here in graduate school, I took a class in orchestral conducting with Professor James Dixon (52BM, 56MA), who led the orchestra here for years. I was the only woman. And in the choral conducting classes, there were only two of us. We recently had a national conference in my field in Kansas City, and I would say there's an increasing presence of women, although not so many at the highest levels. We used to be able to count on one hand the number of people who were the directors of choral activities at big, doctoral degree-granting institutions. There might be 10 now. But women are at least in the mix. Do you have a favorite memory performing with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony? The whole chorus and orchestra from Atlanta once went to East Berlin to sing in the Schauspielhaus before the wall came down. That's nine busloads of Americans crossing Checkpoint Charlie. That concert was a stunner. We did Beethoven's Ninth. When we got to "Freunde" (friend) and "Br?der" (brother), people were weeping at the concept of brotherhood and peace when, here they were, so shackled. When someone comes and brings that message through great art, it's powerful. It's a phenomenon that no matter what the context, art will always prevail. How did your training at the UI set the stage for your career? First of all, the instruction here was superb. I had great voice teaching, every type of literature imaginable, and great conducting classes. The University of Iowa's program in choral conducting was one of the first three in the country. The first was in Southern California, the second was in Illinois, and the third was here. So Iowa has been a leader in this field forever. We had students from all over the world, and there was something about the reach of this institution that was extremely important to me. We never did anything casually, and maybe that's the Iowa way?we're very serious about what we do here, and that carried over to music performance, certainly. How did you get involved with music as a kid? I grew up in Cresco, Iowa. A little over 3,000 people. It's a little place, but in that crazy town, there were four navy admirals, the first stewardess ever, two Olympic wrestlers, and about 10 wrestling national champions. The crowning glory is our Nobel Peace Prize winner, Norman Borlaug. This is a sensational little place where the groundwork was laid for me and many others that you just don't go through life and not strive. Everybody did music and everybody did athletics, because if you didn't do it, the activity couldn't exist because there were so few of us. We all acted in the plays, sang, wrote for the newspaper, and played in the band. And it was all at a really high level for such a small school. Can you tell me about the collection you're donating to the School of Music's library? I have a library full of books and scores and CDs that I thought I could just parcel out to my students. But then I thought there might be value in showing a doctoral student what a working musician's library looks like. The librarian at Iowa said, "We'll take everything you've got." One of the things going to the library is a collections of scores with Robert Shaw's markings, which is valuable to people who want to know his thinking. He was the leader in our profession through the entire last half of the 20th century. My collection isn't enormously valuable, but it makes me feel good to not throw it away. Why is it important for you to support the UI? In these days of such destructive attitudes and behavior, if we don't keep shoring up our wonderful institutions of learning, I don't know where we'll be. I've always been a big supporter of education at the highest possible level. The life of the mind has always been so important to me, and institutions like this one must stay strong. I don't know what you do in a state like this where the regents have less and less money, and the president of this university said there's not too much new money that's coming into the institution, so most of what we do that's innovative will be philanthropic. That clicked with me, and I thought, "I can't do much but I can do a little." I'll be behind this institution forever. Now that you're retired, how would you like to be remembered? You get to be a certain age, and you wonder, what's my legacy? It's not so much that my legacy is important, but you'd like to think you've lived a hardworking life and you've had something of value to give. I ran a doctoral program at Boston University for 23 years, and the number of students who came through there and have now found themselves in positions of leadership at colleges and universities around the country is astounding. I try to go to as many concerts as I can to check up on them. When I think about all the places I've been able to go because of my career?South Korea, Australia, Europe, Brazil?it's unbelievable. I came from the dinky town of Cresco, Iowa. I was just never satisfied to do the ordinary. Support?the UI School of Music.

The UIVA Alumni Organization serves and connects alumni and students who share the common bond of military service.

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