Griggs begins job as dean of College of Education on July 1

By Craig Chamberlain

Mildred Barnes Griggs has been appointed dean of the UI College of
Education pending approval by the board of trustees at its July 13 meeting
in Urbana. She began her new duties as dean July 1.

Griggs, a UI professor of vocational and technical education and the
director of the college's Office for Cultural Diversity, was selected as
the result of a nationwide search. She succeeds P. David Pearson, dean
since 1989, who resigned to become the John A. Hannah Distinguished
Professor in Education at Michigan State University.

Griggs also is the UI site director for the National Center for Research in
Vocational Education, based at the University of California at Berkeley.

In announcing Griggs' appointment, Larry R. Faulkner, provost and vice
chancellor for academic affairs, noted her years of experience and
accomplishment within both her profession and the university.

"Her personal strength, integrity and balance were especially impressive to
those who participated in the search process," Faulkner said. "The years
ahead will be marked by opportunities and challenges for which her
character and experience are well suited."

Griggs earned a bachelor's degree from Arkansas A. M. & N. College, Pine
Bluff, in 1963, and a master's degree and doctorate from the UI, in 1966
and 1971 respectively.

A member of the UI faculty since 1970, specializing in home economics, she
was acting chair of the department of vocational and technical education
from 1986 to 1987. She became director of the Office for Cultural Diversity
in 1991.