[1] She was known throughout her career as a supporter and mentor of junior staff in the Federal Statistical System of the United States.
Griffith served in many positions in the federal government, including the director of the Division of Science Resources Studies at the National Science Foundation and acting commissioner and associate commissioner for data development and longitudinal studies at the National Center for Education Statistics.
Griffith's primary contribution was improving the collection and dissemination of education statistics.
Her efforts touched on the fields of education statistics, social demography, aging and retirement, labor force, and income and poverty[3] She died of breast cancer in August 2001[2].
Previous recipients of the Jean E. Griffith Mentoring Award are[4][1]: 2003 - Richard D. Allen (National Agricultural Statistics Service) 2004 - Beth A Kilss (Internal Revenue Service) 2005 - Renee Miller (Energy Information Administration) 2006 - Martin O'Connell (U.S. Census Bureau) 2007 - Stephanie Shipp (National Institute of Standards and Technology) 2008 - Rosemary Marcuss (Bureau of Economic Analysis) 2009 - Kevin Cecco (Internal Revenue Service) and Lillian Lin (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) 2010 - Deborah H. Griffin (U.S. Census Bureau) 2011 - Jenise L. Swall (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 2012 - William P. Mockovak (Bureau of Labor Statistics) 2013 - Brian Harris-Kojetin (Office of Management and Budget) 2014 - J. Gregory Robinson (U.S. Census Bureau) and Kenneth C. Schoendorf (National Center for Health Statistics) 2015 - Aldo "Skip" Vecchia (U.S. Geological Survey) 2016 - Diane L Willimack (U.S. Census Bureau) 2017 - Cynthia Ogden (National Center for Health Statistics)