[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 134 (Friday, July 30, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    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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