Dear members of the Kenyon College community,
I write to share the news that, after an extraordinary 34 years of service, Vice President for Library and Information Services Ron Griggs will retire at the end of June. Ron has been a generous colleague to me since my arrival to Kenyon, as I know he has been to many of you.
Ron’s career has spanned a remarkable period of growth and advancement in every aspect of his field — in technology and cybersecurity, in data collection and assessment, in the nature and delivery of library and information services. He joined Kenyon in 1990 as director of networks, systems and technical services after a career as a Navy officer specializing in cryptology. He was joined by his wife, Jeanne Griggs, who served as the director of Kenyon’s writing center until her retirement in 2022. Ron assumed increasing responsibility for information services at Kenyon and became vice president for library and information services in 2009. He has been a member of the senior staff for three presidents.
In his three decades at Kenyon, Ron has built and nurtured talented teams of library, technology and institutional research professionals. Some have gone on to lead libraries and technology divisions at other institutions; many, as you know, are valuable colleagues here at Kenyon.
Ron’s vision for computing has always placed the academic mission first. Through multiple generations of networking and data systems, the talented and dedicated information technology staff has managed technology investments with care, keeping Kenyon’s technology expenses focused on our mission. Led by Ashleigh Baker, associate vice president for information technology, the information technology staff is deeply committed to Kenyon’s goals.
Ron was instrumental in organizing Kenyon’s office of institutional research within the library and information services structure. In an interim role of almost four years, Ron performed all institutional research functions until finding Erika Farfan, associate vice president for institutional research, to lead that office to a higher level of service it now provides.
Over the past thirty years, Ron supported and encouraged Kenyon’s library staff, led by Amy Badertscher, associate vice president for libraries, as they navigated a significant generational change in the digital transformation of scholarly publishing, while preserving Kenyon’s long-term investment in the printed word and creating vital special collections and archives. Together with the architects at Gund Partnership, Ron and his team imagined and realized a 21st century library for a 21st century Kenyon community. Since opening in 2021, the new Chalmers Library has become the beating heart of campus.
Please join me in extending our best wishes to Ron on his well-deserved retirement. We will be in touch as we finalize our plans to honor his many contributions to Kenyon.
Sincerely,
Julie Kornfeld
President