Elms College Names Deirdre Griffin Director of International Programs
CHICOPEE — Elms College announced the hiring of Deirdre Griffin, SSJ as director of International Programs. She will be responsible for supporting the college’s international students, growing traditional and faculty-led study-abroad programs, and developing a vibrant community of global learning that celebrates diverse cultures and explores current issues.
“I am very pleased to have Sr. Deirdre Griffin take the lead in International Programs,” said Joyce Hampton, associate vice president of Academic Affairs for Strategic and Global Initiatives. “She brings a wealth of experience to this position and is deeply committed to the core values and mission of Elms College.”
Griffin is a graduate of Boston College Law School and Bowdoin College. She has worked at Jewish Family Service and the Gray House in Springfield, providing a variety of transitional and support services to diverse, global populations.
She entered the community of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield in 2017 and made her initial profession of vows in July. During her 20-year career as an immigration attorney, she has worked in private practice, managed interpreter services in Massachusetts courts, and coordinated refugee-resettlement services. In 2014, she spent three months on staff at the Centre Internationale of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in Le Puy, France, and this summer lived with a family in Guatemala.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to collaborate with our international students and our globally minded students,” Griffin said. “I look forward to sharing the charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph and the mission of the college through a global lens. ‘Connecting neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God’ is a universal and a unifying stance toward life.”
Within the current student body, Elms College has enrolled students from 14 countries, representing five continents. The college also has a thriving International Club.
