Dr. Joyce Griggs is the Associate Director for the School of Music at the University. She serves on the executive team for the School of Music and manages academic affairs, including curriculum and policies for undergraduate and graduate students. Ms. Griggs is quickly establishing herself as a leading scholar on Percy Grainger’s arrangements for saxophone consorts. She received the Grainger Medallion from the International Percy Grainger Society in 2009 for editing and publishing previously unavailable arrangements for saxophone ensembles. These arrangements, of which there are nearly twenty, are exclusively available through RBC Publications, Inc.

Composer Leroy Osmon wrote the Griggs Suite for Alto Saxophone and Percussion, which was premiered in 2007. In 2004, she premiered Music for South Africa by David Jones, and in 2003, Ms. Griggs commissioned and premiered Darin Kamstra’s Convergent Trajectories for saxophone and percussion at the World Saxophone Congress as well as at the 2003 Midwest Composer’s Forum in Iowa City, IA.

As co-founder of the Red Onion Saxophone Quartet (ROSQ), the group commissioned Graffiti by Dr. Adrian P. Childs for the 2002 Biennial North American Saxophone Alliance Conference. The ROSQ won several prizes at regional North American Saxophone Alliance competitions and was awarded the Silver Prize at the 2001 International Fischoff Chamber Competition in South Bend, Indiana.

Prior to her current appointment at the University of Illinois, Joyce served as the Assistant Director for Enrollment Management and Public Engagement. From 2004 - 2011, she was also the Executive Director for Illinois Summer Youth Music (ISYM). She has served as the elected Chair for the Independent Consortium on College Admissions in Music (ICCAM). As a leader in her field, Ms. Griggs has been invited to present panel discussions at the National Association of Schools of Music annual meeting. In 2004, she was a panel member for a discussion about issues in recruitment and admissions, in 2007, she co-presented a discussion specific to international recruitment, and most recently, in 2010, she co-presented a session on transfer admissions.

Dr. Griggs holds a Bachelor of Music Education with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as well as the Master of Music in Performance from the University of North Texas. During her time at the University of North Texas, Ms. Griggs recorded for the GIA and Klavier record labels. She has performed as a soloist and in chamber ensembles throughout the United States and in Europe. She has been an invited participant at many regional, national, and international saxophone conferences. In addition, Ms. Griggs has performed with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony. Joyce maintains an active performance schedule as a solo and chamber saxophonist performing locally and regionally in numerous solo and chamber recitals.