Representing the diversity of Andover community and fulfilling the school motto of “youth from every quarter,” Instructor in English Linda C. Griffith will serve as the new dean of the Community and Multicultural Development Office (CAMD) until 2012. Ms. Griffith has served as the Interim Dean of CAMD since summer 2005. Her recent appointment comes after a reorganization of administration, during which it was found that the role of CAMD had not been defined. Once it was necessary to appoint a full-time dean to run CAMD, Ms. Griffith took over the position from its former dean, Bobby Edwards. With her new position as the Dean of CAMD, Mrs. Griffith also becomes a member of the Senior Administrative Council, chairperson of the Multicultural Advisory Committee, in multicultural community programming. During her tenure as interim dean, Mrs. Griffith organized dialogue forums on issues of poverty and social justice, following the events of Hurricane Katrina. When asked what change Mrs. Griffith’s appointment may bring to CAMD, former Interim Dean of CAMD Rajesh Mundra said, “CAMD has a strong record of supporting students and bringing multicultural issues to the forefront in our community. Mrs. Griffith will build on this, and strengthen links between the CAMD office and the academic, residential, and extracurricular programs within the school. ” CAMD promotes cultural awareness and education pertaining to cultural differences, while helping students to understand the differences of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, socioeconomic class, and sexual orientation. Recently CAMD has been in the process of developing a new forum for dialogue, Cultural Awareness for Everyone (CAFÉ). This would work to inspire more discussion on issues within the community including human rights, homophobia, and justice. Since arriving at PA in 1988, Mrs. Griffith has helped the Andover community in various aspects. She served as an English instructor, house counselor, Pine Knoll Cluster Dean, basketball coach, and advisor to Black and Latino students. Before joining the PA faculty, Mrs. Griffith spent five years as an English teacher at the Boston Latin School. Mrs. Griffith received her BA degree from Vassar College and her Masters of Education from Cambridge College. When asked what she thought of her appointment Mrs. Griffith said, “I’m very excited about the appointment and I’m looking forward to working with many of the other offices and departments at the school to create new opportunities for education and dialog around issues of importance to a multicultural community.” She continued, “This past year, for example, we worked closely with the science and social studies departments to create some successful educational forums around issues raised by Hurricane Katrina, and I’m looking forward to doing more of that. I want to have CAMD permeate all the arenas of the campus. By doing that, we can really support the school’s mission to educate ‘youth from every quarter.’”
