UNCG Instructor Emerita Patricia Anne Griffin died on February 7.
Griffin was also an alumna, earning a BA in mathematics in 1963 from what was then Woman’s College, now UNCG. When she graduated, she was voted one of ten “outstanding seniors.” Subsequently, she was among the first group of master’s students in mathematics, completing her degree in 1969. She then began teaching for UNCG and remained on the faculty until her retirement in 1997.
Griffin served as faculty advisor for UNCG’s Square Circle Club, a math club established in 1926 by former department head Helen Barton. She was also the faculty advisor for the North Carolina Epsilon Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the National Honorary Mathematical Society.
She taught math in Vienna, Va., and at Page High School, prior to joining UNCG’s faculty. She helped start the Habitat for Humanity chapter for Stokes County and served on the Board of Directors for many years.
One of Griffin’s former students, Richard Cheek, systems administrator for UNCG and a longtime IT support for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, recalled, “Pat was a wonderful person. She taught me Calculus I in 1994. Every day at the beginning of class she’d have some interesting story about raising chickens or installing a basketball goal or her time in the Navy working on aircraft carriers. It was like learning calculus from your overactive grandma. Yes, it was a surreal experience that I feel lucky to have had a chance to undergo.”
Griffin will be greatly missed by the math stats community at UNCG.
