Impact Report: Year-End 2020

Patricia Griffin

Dr. Patricia L. Griffin, SMCCCD Retiree Donor, Endowment Fund Donor, and SMCCCF Board Member

Patricia Griffin has dedicated much of her career and all of her retirement years to supporting students in the San Mateo County Community College District. Starting in 1990, she spent 16 years as the Vice President of Student Services at College of San Mateo. During that time, every CSM senior administrator shared a common “students first” goal. “I felt very supported in pursuing and developing a vision for student services around access, support, and success. I am pleased that I was given a free hand in expanding and developing student services at CSM.”

Leading and expanding the Student Services division at CSM naturally led Patricia to examine student support holistically. Through that lens she came to understand the fundamental importance of providing financial support for community college students. She became a donor herself soon after she began her position at CSM and continues to be a keen advocate for helping students overcome the financial barriers to completing community college.

“At community colleges we welcome everyone. The main focus of our faculty and staff is supporting our students in a variety of ways so that they can complete college. Many students are first-generation students, need financial support, and/or leave college to work and come back when they can. For a lot of these students, financial support makes all the difference. If they have to worry about putting food on the table, supporting their families, paying rent, caring for children, etc., education falls far down on the list of concerns. It is not enough that students come to community colleges. They have to stay in order to succeed.”

The community college system is a thread that has been woven into Patricia’s life since childhood. Her dedication to community college students, indeed, has historic roots. Patricia came to know the value of a community college education through her mother, Marie Sexsmith Griffin, who graduated high school during the Great Depression. Community college (or “junior college” as it was known then) was the only avenue available to help her realize her career dreams. It was her degree from Flint Junior College that gave Patricia’s motherthe ability to go on to the University of Michigan, become a public health nurse, and eventually set up a community college scholarship to help others succeed in higher education.

Patricia herself took courses at her local community college as part of an intensive academic program during high school. She eventually earned her Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, and Doctorate. After a few years teaching and counseling in secondary schools, Patricia shifted her focus to community colleges where she spent the majority of her career in a variety of roles including teaching, counseling, running programs, and serving as a director and dean.

During her tenure at CSM, expanding and deepening the scholarship program for CSM students became a calling and led Patricia to collaborate with the Foundation. In the 1990s, SMCCCF was a very small operation that trusted Patricia’s active and engaged partnership to realize her vision. In her zeal to provide students with financial opportunities, she engaged with the Associated Students to develop more scholarships for incoming high school students and with her colleagues to develop pathways for student success that included financial support.

Retirement has given Patricia time and resources to continue her commitment to supporting students. She established an endowed fund — the Patricia L. Griffin Scholarship Fund — in 2006, to which she regularly contributes. “I chose to create an endowed fund because it lives in perpetuity. The initial donation and subsequent contributions are invested and only the income from the investments is used to fund scholarships. I know that I’m helping students today and will continue to support the District’s students after I’m gone.” Patricia was also recruited to the SMCCCD Retirees group, which she enthusiastically joined. Through the Retirees group, which meets for both fun and serious activities, Patricia and her retiree colleagues have continued the work of acquiring scholarship funds for students at Cañada College, College of San Mateo, and Skyline College. “The group appealed to the deep commitment I already had, so I joined in. I spent half my administrative time at CSM working on behalf of students and the other half of my time as as a retiree doing the same thing!”

As Patricia envisioned in her original collaboration with the Foundation, SMCCCF today boasts an expanded team that is integral to the colleges. She has joined the Foundation’s Board of Directors as a representative of the Retirees group, in part to help ensure that the scholarships programs she worked so hard to expand all those years ago, continue to support students into the future.