Listen now:
This week on the Faculty Factory podcast is an interview with R. Kevin Grigsby, MSW, DSW. Dr. Grigsby serves as Senior Director, Member Organizational Development at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
Many of us in the world of AAMC’s Group on Faculty Affairs (GFA) have grown accustomed to seeing Dr. Grigsby around GFA meetings for at least a decade. When I first joined the GFA I saw him everywhere and thought to myself, “Who is this guy that seems to know everyone?”
With that in mind, I knew it was time to invite him on the podcast. When I first started getting active in the GFA, it was him and Dr. Luanne Thorndyke that seemed to know everything about faculty affairs and faculty development. I went to many of their sessions and workshops; they both impressed me very much.
It was through these interactions with Drs. Grigsby and Thorndyke that I was helped to realize this was the type of work I knew I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Connections through Conversations
After five minutes of chatting with Dr. Grigsby, I learned so much about his background—I had no idea he held a doctorate, and I had no clue he was a vice dean at two different institutions.
The importance of taking time to sit down and learn about someone’s background can never be overstated. It’s fascinating that I could have been working with someone for more than a decade yet never have taken the time to learn about their career journey.
Dr. Grigsby started his academic career at Yale Child Study Center.
As a social worker by training, Dr. Grigsby was involved with work in the early stages of his career with organizations, such as group homes and shelters for homeless kids.
He worked on research to help those organizations better meet their missions.
Dr. Grigsby spent almost a decade at Penn State College of Medicine as Vice Dean for Faculty and Administrative Affairs. Before he joined the AAMC in 2009, he was Vice Dean for Administration and Research at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
Birth of the GFA
If you’ve ever wondered about how the GFA was formed, make sure to listen to the opening minutes of today’s podcast to get the full story. Around the 12-minute mark of this episode, Dr. Grigsby discuses the earliest days of the GFA and how it grew to become what it is today.
The GFA, much like this podcast, was formed to help build support for one another in our field. Dr. Grigsby comments on how everyone was dealing with the same issues (tenure, conflict resolution, leadership, faculty retention, etc.) and it only made sense for a national organization on faculty affairs to be created.
To listen to today’s entire episode, please use the podcast player embedded above, or visit our Podcast Homepage.