Brenham -- Blinn College has named Dr. Cynthia Griffith its vice president for instruction to ensure a streamlined vision for the College’s academic credit and non-credit programs.
Griffith, formerly Blinn’s vice president for Allied Health Sciences, will oversee the College’s Academic Affairs Division in addition to Health Sciences and Workforce Education. In this newly-structured position, Griffith will guide the College’s academic credit programs, dual credit for high schools and its career and technical certification programs.
“Cynthia is a distinguished scholar with a proven record of promoting collaboration and enhancing academic excellence, innovation and institutional change,” said Dr. Harold Nolte, Blinn College district president. “She has been an outstanding leader for our Health Sciences Division and I look forward to her playing a significant role in the future of Blinn College.”
The position includes responsibilities previously held by the vice president for Academic Affairs. Dr. Pamela Anglin was hired to oversee Academic Affairs beginning in January but recently informed the College she would be unable to perform those duties.
Griffith’s new responsibilities mirror those she previously held at Lone Star College – CyFair, where she served five years as dean of academic, workforce and technical education. Those duties included planning, development, implementation and evaluation of instruction and maintaining the latest trends in instructional methods, technology and learning pedagogies.
She served as a full-time faculty member from 1985-2001, then continued to teach through 2006 while serving as director. Griffith also brings experience as chair of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaccreditation committees at Angelina and Lone Star colleges.
Griffith earned her Doctor of Education degree from Sam Houston State University with specialization in community college executive leadership. She earned her master’s degree in secondary education from Stephen F. Austin University and her bachelor’s from Midwestern State University.
A member of the Texas Community College Teachers Association, the Texas Council of College Instructional Leaders and the Texas Association of College Technical Educators, Griffith was awarded the Sam Houston State Educational Leadership Doctoral Award in 2006.
Blinn is firmly established as one of the nation’s top community colleges, transferring students to four-year universities at a rate unmatched by any other community college district in the state. Blinn’s 49.4 percent transfer rate to four-year institutions in 2012 was more than 20 percent higher than the state average (27.8 percent).
Blinn’s unique Transfer Enrollment at Texas A&M (Blinn TEAM) co-enrollment program, which ensures automatic transfer to Texas A&M for qualifying students, has allowed the admission of hundreds of qualified students that would have otherwise not been possible due to freshman and sophomore enrollment constraints at Texas A&M.
Blinn enrolled 18,413 students this Fall and has experienced 31.1 percent growth since 2006. Founded in 1883, the College’s tuition and fees average about one-third the cost of the same classes at most four-year public universities in the state. For enrollment information and to learn about financial aid opportunities, visit: www.blinn.edu.
