For the past decade, Dr. Ervin Griffin has served as president and CEO of Halifax Community College. Although Weldon, North Carolina, has been a majority-minority town for some time, the college hadn’t seen a Black president in 40 years before Griffin assumed the position, according to the institution.
To the community, Griffin’s presence was significant, he says. However, “I appreciate it more now than I did when I first got here because I understand the context better.”
In Chicago, recently, Halifax was honored with the 2016 AACC Advancing Diversity award by the American Association of Community Colleges for Griffin’s work to make “considerable changes to both the educational and cultural environment of HCC and throughout the region,” HCC’s Board Chair Michael Felt said.
More specifically, the AACC pointed out that the university has invested $250,000 “in unique one-of-a-kind diversity and multicultural programs” such as a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service to host an African-American stamp dedication event. Halifax was the first community college in North Carolina to do so.
In 2006, Griffin brought to Halifax a wealth of experience in community college education, rooted in his role as a coordinator at Southwest Virginia Community College dating back to 1979.
“I suppose I could have been in another arena, but once I got into community college education, I realized that it fit who I was and the way I wanted to help people,” he says. “And it also allows me to help people where they are and take them as far as they want to go.”
This spirit is likely cemented in his upbringing. While his parents did not pursue education beyond high school, they wanted all nine of their children to go further, Griffin says. “They both had a very abiding respect in the power of education.”
