Taylor Johnson is the Interim Director of Debate and a Lecturer in the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University. She first came to JMU in 2015 as an M.A. student before receiving her PhD in Communication from the University of Utah. She returned to JMU as a faculty member in 2022. Taylor's research and teaching focus on Native American and Indigenous Studies, Rhetoric, and Environmental Justice. 

Dr. Johnson is the recipient of the 2021 Catalina de Onís Dissertation Award in Environmental Communication and received an honorable mention for the 2022 RSA Dissertation Award for her dissertation, Bears Ears national monument: Toward a decolonial rhetoric of public participation in environmental decision-making.