Grimmett Receives University of Georgia’s Distinguished Alumnus Award

NC State College of Education Associate Professor Marc Grimmett has received the University of Georgia (UGA) Outstanding Educator Award. This honor is one of five Distinguished Alumni Awards bestowed by UGA’s College of Education.

“I am very proud to receive the Outstanding Educator Award from the University of Georgia. I never imagined, while I was a doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology program, that now I would be considered worthy of this recognition,” said Grimmett.

“I could only be regarded as an outstanding educator because of all of the people who instilled in me the value of education, who remain models of the loving, transformative, powerful, change agent educators that inspire me. Any accomplishments that I achieve are never mine alone. I am the legacy and living representative of my ancestors and communities, connected by blood, love, and cause, who sacrificed and strived to make the world safer, fairer, and freer for those around them and for those of us to come, through education.”

Grimmett joined the NC State College of Education in 2004. His research focuses on gender-based violence prevention and access to high-quality community counseling services. He also studies the promotion of the healthy development of African American people and the development of social justice counselor education teaching and research methods.

He teaches courses within the College of Education’s master of education in clinical mental health counseling and the doctoral counseling and counselor education programs.

Additionally, Grimmett founded and co-directs the Community Counseling, Education, and Research Center within the NC State Counselor Education Program. The center provides short-term, affordable counseling services to individuals, couples, and families that focus on healthy personal, emotional, social, and career development.

In 2013, he filmed the award-winning documentary MY MASCULINITY HELPS, alongside Raleigh filmmaker David Hambridge, which explores the role of African American men and boys in the prevention of sexual violence.

While at UGA, Grimmett says Dr. Pamela O. Paisley was his fearless and loving advocate womentor, who recognized and nourished the light in him. She encouraged and protected his authenticity, while gently guiding me through a new world of possibilities for his life.

He also attributes his success to Dr. Deryl Bailey who was instrumental during his time in Athens, Ga. He says Bailey showed him daily the brilliance, capacity, and way to put values into practice, as an African American male professor dedicated to helping all children understand and realize their potential.

“I will accept this award, again, on behalf of all the folks who made this possible,” he said. “I am a member of an interconnected and interdependent community that extends through time and space. Education is our collective tool for liberation!”

Grimmett earned his doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Georgia, his master’s in community counseling and his bachelor’s in biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his counseling psychology postdoctoral fellowship from the University of South Carolina, and he is a licensed psychologist in North Carolina.