LANSING — Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the appointment of Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, known widely as Dr. Beverly, as the director of the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential.
“I’m proud to appoint Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea to lead MiLEAP,” Whitmer said. “Her long record of leadership and excellence in the education space will help her deliver on MiLEAP’s mission of expanding pre-K and higher education and lowering costs for students and families. I look forward to all that she’ll accomplish, and I am grateful to Acting Director Richard for her excellent work to get the department up and running. Dr. Beverly will build on that strong foundation to create opportunities for Michiganders from the playroom to the boardroom.”
Walker-Griffea is the seventh president of Mott Community College in Flint, Mich., where she is the first female and first African American president in the college’s history. In another historic first, as of July 1, 2024, Walker-Griffea will be the first MCC president to have the title of “President Emeritus” bestowed upon her.
Since being named president in 2014, Walker-Griffea has been instrumental in the transformation of MCC through the implementation of new resources and student support programming, and numerous plans and initiatives that will carry the school forward for decades to come.
Prior to joining MCC, Walker-Griffea served as senior vice president for student services at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, vice president of student affairs at Virginia Peninsula Community College in Hampton, Virginia; dean of student development at Houston Community College-Central Campus; and interim dean of health and environmental sciences at Spokane Community College.
Additionally, while at Spokane Community College, she earned tenure in three years as a counseling faculty member leading the award-winning Single-Parent Program and served as chair for the Institutional Diversity Department.
Walker-Griffea has served nationally as the president for the American Association for Women in Community Colleges and as a member of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Board of Directors, where she earned CEO of the year in 2023.
“I am grateful and humbled that Governor Whitmer has placed her trust in me to lead MiLEAP,” Walker-Griffea said. “This is an exciting opportunity for me to use my education and experiences to improve Michigan’s workforce talent outcomes. I look forward to creating more pathways that prepare Michiganders with post-secondary credentials that lead to family-sustaining jobs.”
