Kimberly Griffin

Assistant Professor of Education, College Student Affairs and Higher Education
Research Associate, Center for the Study of Higher Education

Penn State
College of Education
Department of Education Policy Studies
                           300 Rackley Building
                           University Park, PA 16802
                           (814) 863-5553
                           kag32@psu.edu

Research Interests

The experiences, outcomes, and retention of African American students and faculty; the nature and influence of faculty-student relationships; relationships within the higher education context; high achievers of color; campus racial climate; strategies towards increasing access to and diversity within education and the professoriate; influence of diversity and interactions with diverse peers; affirmative action policy; interdisciplinary studies; mixed-methods research.

Courses Taught

• Campus Environments
• Organization and Administration in Student Affairs (Spring, 2010)

Education

• Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Higher Education and Organizational Change with a cognate in Relationships Science; Dissertation: Can reaching back push you forward?: A mixed methods study of Black faculty and their developmental relations with students (Walter Allen, Chair)
• M.A., University of California, Los Angeles, Higher Education and Organizational Change
• M.A., University of Maryland, Education Policy and Leadership, Higher Education; Master's Thesis: The implications of stereotype threat for gifted African American collegians (Charon Fries-Britt, Chair)
• B.A., Stanford University, Psychology with a specialization in Health and Development

Publications (Full CV available here)

• Hurtado, S., Griffin, K. A., Arellano, L., & Cuellar, M. (in press). Assessing the value of climate assessments: Progress and future directions.Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
• Kimura-Walsh, E., Yamamura, E.K., Griffin, K. A., & Allen, W.R. (in press). Achieving the college dream?: Examining disparities in access to college information among high-achieving and non high-achieving Latinas. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education.
• Griffin, K. A., Nichols, A. H., Perez, D., II, & Tuttle, K.D. (2008). Making campus activities and student organizations inclusive for racial/ethnic minority students. In S.R. Harper (Ed.), Creating inclusive college environments for cross-cultural learning and engagement (pp. 121-138). Washington: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Inc.
• Allen, W. R., Jewell, J. O., Griffin, K. A., & Wolf, D. (2007). Historically Black colleges and universities: Honoring the past, engaging the present, touching the future. Journal of Negro Education, 76(3), 263-280.
• Griffin, K. A., Yamamura, E., Kimura-Walsh, E. F., & Allen, W. R. (2007). Those who left, those who stayed: The educational opportunities of high-achieving Black and Latina/o students in magnet and non-magnet Los Angeles high schools. Educational Studies, 42(3), 229-247.
• Fries-Britt, S. & Griffin, K.A. (2007). The Black Box: How high achieving Blacks resist stereotypes about African Americans, Journal of College Student Development, 48(5), 509-524.
• Griffin, K. A. & Allen, W. R. (2006). Mo’ money, mo’ problems?: High achieving Black high school students’ experiences with resources, racial climate, and resilience. Journal of Negro Education, 75(3), 478-494.
• Griffin, K. A. (2006). Striving for success: A qualitative exploration of competing theories of high-achieving Black college students’ academic motivation. Journal of College Student Development, 47(4), 384-399.
• Allen, W. R., Jayakumar, U. M., Griffin, K. A., Korn, W., Hurtado, S. (2005). Black undergraduates from Bakke to Grutter: Freshmen status, trends and prospects, 1971- 2004. Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute. ISBN:1-878477-37-4

Honors & Awards Received

• 2008, Outstanding Dissertation Award, Department of Education, College of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
• 2008, Student Marshal, Department of Education, College of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
• 2004-2008, Eugene Cota-Robles Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles
• 2005-2007, National Science Foundation (NSF) Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Research and Training (IGERT) Predoctoral Fellowship, Interdisciplinary Relationship Science Program, University of California, Los Angeles
• 2001, Omicron Delta Kappa, Leadership Honors Society