| For the second year in a row, the recipient of the Erskine B. Bowles Staff Service Award is a North Carolina A&T State University employee. This year, real property agent and chairman of the Staff Senate, James T. Griffin will receive award at the Board of Governors meeting, Sept 18 at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston Salem.
“I was shocked. I didn’t really think I was going to win,” he said. “I thought I could win but I wasn’t sure. I was delighted and happy.”
Griffin has been an employee at N.C. A&T for nearly 13 years. In that time he has grown the university’s campus footprint by more than 35 acres and has served his fellow staff members on the Staff Senate as parliamentarian, vice chairman and is in his second term as chairman.
He was nominated by a fellow staffer for being a “proven energetic leader with integrity,” whose leadership helped facilitate a community service committee on the Staff Senate that developed a partnership with the Greensboro Farmers Market.
“I cannot think of anyone more deserving of the Erskine Bowles Award than James T. Griffin, who is a champion for the North Carolina A&T State University campus as well as the Greensboro community,” the nominator said. “His tireless contributions should not go unnoticed.”
The Erskine B. Bowles Staff Service Award is presented by the UNC Board of Governors to a permanent staff member of one of the 17 institutions and university affiliate groups who demonstrates exceptional customer service; provides extraordinary assistance by providing additional help outside of normal job responsibilities throughout campus and surrounding communities; displays selfless acts of giving to campus and community events; and whose creativity and impact greatly exceed normal accomplishments of a staff employee.
“It’s wonderful when your peers say good things about you. I do a lot of things and I don’t really think about it,” Griffin said. “I’m trying to do things for others and it is really nice to have someone recognize these things and to nominate me for this award.”
In addition to being the university’s real property agent, he also serves as a hub coordinator on major construction projects at the university and is a founding member of the Aggie Opus Project, a volunteer singing group of faculty, staff and students that awarded book scholarships to students.
“It’s about not necessarily yourself but what you can do for other people in your community. I’ve always been one to be involved in community service. I like helping other people,” he said.
Griffin splits his free time between his duties as the executive director of the Warnersville Community Coalition, the board chair for New Goshen United Methodist Church and as a member of the East Market Street Revitalization Committee, the Board of Directors for the Greensboro Farmer’s Market and the Greensboro Zoning Commission. |
