Dr. John Griffin currently serves as the Senior Associate Provost at Clemson University.
As a member of Clemson’s leadership team, he played a key role in the development and implementation of the ClemsonForward strategic plan, which includes initiatives focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, as well as scholarship and research, while re-affirming the University’s commitment to experiential learning and community engagement. He also led initiatives that have resulted in the highest retention and graduation rates in Clemson’s modern history.
Nationally, Griffin is the lead for the southeast cluster of institutions involved in APLU’s student success initiative and was Clemson’s representative on a recent ACE Presidential Task Force on Transfer Credit. Prior to his arrival at Clemson, Griffin was a respected academic and administrative leader at William & Mary. He served as the founding Director of the Neuroscience Program, as Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Divisional Dean for the Natural and Social Sciences. During this time, he played a leadership role in the revision of the College Curriculum, increasing graduate programming and research, and establishing the Center for the Liberal Arts. He also maintained an academic career as a respected neurophysiologist, with funding that included a National Science Foundation CAREER award, studying the central neural mechanisms of thermoregulatory control.
Griffin received tenure and promotion to professor while at William & Mary, was named the Class of 2012 Professor of Biology & Neuroscience, received the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, and the Phi Beta Kappa Society’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. Griffin also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, while serving as a teaching fellow at Harvard College. He received his B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and his M.S. & Ph.D. in Physiology from The Ohio State University.