John V. Griffith

John Vincent Griffith (born December 24, 1947) is an American former educator and academic administrator. He took his first administrative position at Davidson College and left after being appointed president of Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas, a role he held for eight years. At Lyon, his administration constructed and renovated several residential and academic buildings. In 1998, he became president of Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. There, academic and athletic facilities were improved or built and the college transitioned to NCAA Division I status. During his tenure, the college began its Confucius Institute and opened a pharmacy school. He was president at Presbyterian for fourteen years until his retirement in July 2012.

Early life and education John Vincent Griffith was born on December 24, 1947. He was raised in Hamilton, New York; his father was dean of students at Colgate University. Griffith attended Hamilton Central School.

Griffith earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He earned a Master of Divinity degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, and he earned a Ph.D. from Syracuse University. succeeding Dan C. West.

At Arkansas College, which changed its name to Lyon College in 1994, Griffith's administration oversaw the construction and renovation of multiple campus buildings, including the president's house, a residence hall, and the Lyon Business and Economics Building, between 1991 and 1994. Griffith was elected president of Presbyterian College, in Clinton, South Carolina, by a unanimous vote of the school's board of trustees on June 3, 1997. He stepped down as president of Lyon effective December 31, 1997, and took office at Presbyterian on January 1, 1998, succeeding Kenneth B. Orr. and established the Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy in 2010. He resigned the presidency effective July 15, 2012, and was succeeded by Claude Lilly.

During his career, Griffith chaired the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities president's council, the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, and a governing council within the Aspen Institite. He was director of the Laurens County, South Carolina, chamber of commerce, and he was a board member for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. The couple has two children. Griffith is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Griffith received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Lyon in 2001.