Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at the University of Maryland
About
Kimberly A. Griffin is an associate professor at the University of Maryland. After completing her undergraduate work in psychology at Stanford University, Dr. Griffin received her master's degree from the University of Maryland. Her doctoral work in higher education and organizational change was completed at UCLA. Prior to becoming a faculty member, she served as a higher education administrator and student affairs professional, working in undergraduate and graduate admissions, diversity and inclusion, and new student orientation.
Professor Griffin is a recognized scholar in the area of higher education access and equity research. Dr. Griffin was the recipient of the 2013 Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education, and was identified as an emerging scholar by American College Personnel Association, College Student Educators International, in 2010. Her work on faculty and graduate student diversity, mentoring, diversity in the Black community, and campus climate has been published widely, and she is frequently invited to speak and consult with institutional leaders interested in improving their campus climates and promoting diversity and inclusion. She serves on multiple editorial boards, and is an associate editor for the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
Current Work:
Dr. Griffin's diverse interests and background have provided the opportunity to become skilled in advanced quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as the integration of these strategies in mixed methods research. Throughout her career, she has contributed to multiple projects related to access and equity in higher education, examining the diverse experiences of Black students and faculty, the impact of campus climate, and how mentoring relationships influence student and faculty success. Much of her current work focuses on exploring efforts to increase diversity in the professoriate, including studies addressing access to graduate education for women and men of color, the training experiences of underrepresented students, and career development in graduate education.
Dr. Griffin has had opportunities to contribute to multiple funded projects to explore these topics. She was co-pricncipal investigator on a grant from the Burroughs Welcome Fund, supporting a study of PhDs biomedical scientists from diverse backgrounds, exploring their career development and changes in interest in academic careers. She is continuing this work as co-PI on an NSF EHR CORE grant, examining the experiences of early career scientists as they transition from doctoral programs to their careers in an effort to to effectively prepare and diversify the scientific workforce. Dr. Griffin also currently serves as co-principal investigator on an NSF INCLUDES Alliance, working in collaboration with the Association for Public Land Grant Universities (APLU), CIRTL, and multiple organizational and institutional partners, integrating multiple strategies to both develop early career STEM faculty and promote inclusion in the contexts in which faculty work. She co-leads a research team with Dr. Leslie Gonzales (Michigan State), which will examine if and how organizational and individual actors respond to these activities and how these initiatives promote individual and institutional change.
Research Area Keyword(s):
- Faculty diversity
- Mentoring
- Campus climate
- Graduate education
- Intersectionality
