Gerald Griffin

Hope College
ACAO Board of Directors

Dr. Gerald D. Griffin, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Hope College, obtained his BA from Cornell University in 2003—majoring in biology (concentration: neurobiology and behavior). After Cornell, he earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania (2009) as a student in the Neuroscience Graduate Group. During his graduate work, he demonstrated how ovarian hormones rewire neurons in the adult female brain. Next, Dr. Griffin completed postdoctoral research in the area of neurovirology—investigating how herpes simplex impacts neuronal gene expression and animal behavior. Dr. Griffin served as a faculty member at Tuskegee University (2011-2015) and then at Hope College (2015-Present). He is the recipient of the Janet L. Andersen Excellence in

Teaching Award at Hope College, was selected as an Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine, and earned the Janet Andersen Lecture Award in Biology & Psychology from the Midstates Consortium for Math & Science. Dr. Griffin served as Councilor and President of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, authored nearly 30 publications (over a third of the manuscripts had undergraduate co-authors), and earned over $4 million dollars in external grant funds. As Provost, Dr. Griffin has led a general education curricular revision while also adjusting the campus’s course-credit norm. He continues to champion shared governance and has greatly benefitted working with faculty, staff, and students to advance the mission of Hope. Currently, Dr. Griffin is a member of the Council for Independent Colleges Chief Academic Officer Taskforce and has led multiple workshops for academic leaders.