The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO DR. MARSHALL C. GRIGSBY CELEBRATING HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY
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HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN
of south carolina
in the house of representatives
Friday, July 30, 2021
Mr. CLYBURN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a longtime friend and educator, Dr. Marshall C. Grigsby, who will celebrate his 75th birthday on August 18, 2021. A man, who in his teens wondered if he would reach his 25th birthday because of his active involvement in civil rights direct action during the early 1960s, finally reached an unimagined milestone 50 years hence.
I first met Marshall when he became President of Benedict College in Columbia, SC in 1985 while I was serving as the head of the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission. We quickly forged a great working relationship and a valued friendship that continues to this day.
Dr. Grigsby has had a phenomenal career distinguishing himself as a college professor, administrator, and as an advisor to Congress, Presidents of the United States and various private sector and non-
profit educational entities on educational equity and inclusion. But, he did not blaze these trails overnight. He began this journey after graduating from Morehouse College in 1968 and matriculating at the University of Chicago, where he completed the Master of Theology and Doctor of Ministry degrees in 1972. While in Divinity School, Dr. Grigsby served as the Executive Director of the Black Legislative Clearing House, an educational and research organization based in Chicago and tasked with serving the Nation's Black state legislators. Some of the elected officials associated with the Clearing House included Harold Washington and Coleman Young who would later become the mayors of Chicago and Detroit, respectively; Hannah Atkins who later became Secretary of State for Oklahoma; and Mervyn Dymally and George Brown who would become the first Black Lieutenant Governors of California and Colorado, respectively.
In 1973, Dr. Grigsby was the youngest and first African American appointed to the professional staff of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. In that position, he was responsible for working with 196 member institutions in developing programs that more adequately addressed the concerns and interests of their minority students.
Dr. Grigsby was invited to join the faculty and administration of the Howard University Divinity School in 1975, where he served for 10 years. He taught courses in the content area of church, society and fundraising in a church context. During his tenure, he reorganized the academic calendar that resulted in a significant increase in the school's enrollment.
In 1985, at the age of 38, Dr. Grigsby was elected the 12th President of Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. During his eight-year tenure, programs were initiated which helped the institution achieve national recognition. He established the first undergraduate environmental health science program in the Southeast and established the first college wide honors program. In 1991, Benedict was one of five small liberal arts colleges selected nationwide as a recipient of the Knight Foundation Presidential Leadership Award. The Award was designed to recognize creative and innovative presidential leadership at small liberal arts colleges throughout America.
During his tenure at Benedict, Dr. Grigsby served as chair of the South Carolina Tuition Grants Program, the Board of the South Carolina Student Loan Corporation, the South Carolina Educational Television Endowment Board and the South Carolina Humanities Council. He was instrumental in having the South Carolina Humanities Council housed on the Benedict College campus.
In 1994, Dr. Grigsby joined the staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the U.S. House of Representatives as the Senior Legislative Associate for Higher Education. In that position, he provided oversight, advice and counsel to Members on issues involving distance learning, vocational rehabilitation, affirmative action, and the Corporation for National and Community Service and Federal Impact Aid. Furthermore, he served as the lead Democratic staff member on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act amendments of 1998 that included strengthening Title III and IV as well as creating Title V
(aid to Hispanic Serving Institutions), and the GEAR-UP Program.
After serving eight years on Capitol Hill, Dr. Grigsby left in 2001 to establish Grigsby and Associates, LLC, an educational, legislative and policy development consulting firm specializing in educational policy issues, strategic planning and the Federal legislative and regulatory processes.
Dr. Grigsby has served as a senior consultant with the Council for Opportunity in Education, the umbrella organization for the nation's federal TRIO programs, and as a senior scholar with the Claiborne Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education. In addition, he drafted the 2001-2003 Annual Report of the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities pursuant to Executive Order 13256. The report, ``The Mission Continues'', outlines federal support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Madam Speaker, I invite you and my colleagues to join me in commending this distinguished theologian, educator, and academician. As he celebrates this milestone birthday, please join me in extending to him a hearty and heartfelt 75th year and our very best wishes in all of his future endeavors.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 134
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