Dr. Yvonne Griggs Allen
Dr. Yvonne Griggs Allen is currently an Education Consultant. She is the past Regional Director of the Memphis/Shelby Field Service Center for the Tennessee Department of Education. Allen served 24 ½ years as an elementary and middle school principal. Also, she has served as an adjunct professor at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee and a business instructor at the Whiteville Technology Center in Whiteville, Tennessee. She is the past President of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). Also, she served as President of the Tennessee Association of Elementary School Principals. During her tenure as President of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, she had the honor of meeting and introducing former U.S. President Bill Clinton at a conference in Washington, D.C.
Allen’s professional involvement included serving on several statewide education commissions and advisory committees, appointed by Tennessee’s governors and state education department. Additionally, she has served on the Board of Directors for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).
Allen has presented International Presentations: East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools (EARCOS) Conference 1993, Singapore, Singapore, and Administrators Conference Association of International Schools in Africa, (AISA) 1998, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Harare, Zimbabwe, 1999.
Allen’s career as an educational leader, the first African-American Female Principal in her county, is distinguished by the highest professional honors. She was entered in the 101st United States Congressional Record for Outstanding Achievements in Education in 1989, selected by the U.S. Department of Education and NAESP as Tennessee’s “National Distinguished Principal” in 1987, and recognized by the National School Safety Center as a “Principal of Leadership” in 1988. Also, named an “American Hero in Education” by Reader’s Digest in 1989, which included a $15,000.00 cash award and honored on the “Executive Educator 100” list given by the National School Boards Association in 1993. Allen received the prestigious Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award in 1996, which honors outstanding educators and included a $25,000.00 cash award. In 2008, FreedHardeman University inducted Allen into the School of Education Hall of Fame. Additionally, the University of Memphis (Department of Leadership) honored Allen with the Outstanding Doctoral Candidate Award in 2009.
Since 1979, when Allen became Principal of Whiteville Elementary, the school—which was once called the “Graveyard” because of students’ low-test scores and self-esteem—has become a center of academic excellence. During Allen’s tenure as principal, the school earned recognition as a “Blue Ribbon School” by the U.S. Department of Education in 1993 and was cited by Redbook Magazine among top-notch schools nationwide in 1993 and 1995.
Additionally, Allen is a member and past president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Mu Zeta Zeta Chapter in Bolivar, Tn. Also, she has served as the Southern Region Vice-President for the Lane College Alumni Association and is a life member of the association.
Allen is a member of Bethlehem M.B. Church in Bolivar, TN. She has one daughter, Dr. April Y. Allen who is an Anticoagulation Clinical Program Manager at the Veteran Administration Hospital in Dallas, TX.