Dr. Joseph S. Murphy was the fifth President of Queens College, serving from February 1971 through Fall 1976.
“The Board of Higher Education last night appointed Dr. Joseph Murphy as president of the College.
Murphy, presently Vice Chancellor for Higher Education of New Jersey, will succeed Dr. Joseph McMurray, who announced his resignation last June.
The new president, who is expected to take charge on Feb. 1, taught at Brandeis University from 1957 to 1965, and served in various administrative roles since then. Murphy is 37 years old, is married, and has three children. He enjoys sailing and is working towards his pilot’s license.
A graduate with honors in Philosophy from Olivet College, Michigan, in 1955, Murphy obtained his MA from Brandeis in 1958 and his Ph.D. in Philosophy and Political Theory from the same institution in 1961.
In his first teaching role, Murphy was an Instructor in Philosophy from 1957 to 1961. In 1961, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Politics.
Leaving that post in 1965, Murphy took the position of Director of the Virgin Islands Peace Corps Training Center, St. Croix, while also serving as a visiting professor at the College of the Virgin Islands.
From 1966 to 1967, Murphy was employed as Confidential Assistant to then-Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare John Garner, and from 1967 to 1968 he served as Associate Director of the Job Corps.
In 1968, Murphy worked as Director of the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, a post he held until earlier this year when he took his present job.
...Murphy was appointed upon recommendation of a College faculty-student-alumnus committee. The committee conducted a six-month search for candidates and ultimately interviewed four prospects. The final recommendation for his appointment came from a committee of the BHE, which received the name of the College committee’s choice.”
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“Joseph S. Murphy, president of Queens College, has been named president of Bennington College in Vermont. Bennington has been without a president since Gail Thain Parker resigned in January amid an uproar that involved adultery, a vote of no-confidence by the faculty and an extraneous charge that she made bad lasagna.
Asked why he had accepted the presidency of the tiny school, which has a reputation for anarchic tendencies, Dr. Murphy said, ‘I wanted a challenge.’
‘If Bennington were a conventional four-year, liberal arts college, I wouldn’t have been interested,’ he said. ‘But I am interested in innovative institutions. The place has a national reputation well beyond its size. It’s been a leader in higher education innovation.’
‘At Queens, I’ve functioned largely as a bureaucrat,’ he said. ‘I’m looking forward to a place where learning, the mind and intellectual concerns matter.’
In his six years at Queens College, Dr. Murphy, 42 years old, is generally acknowledged to have improved the school vastly, making it perhaps the finest in the City University system.
He has also earned a reputation as an outspoken administrator. He was highly critical of last year’s budget cuts and at one point offered to sell the school’s presidential residence to help make up for the budget reduction.
...‘I have roots in Queens,’ he said, ‘and a profound regard for the place. But Peggy and I are peripatetic people. We like opportunities to grow and to take on new challenges.’”
Dr. Murphy served as the fourth Chancellor of the City University of New York, from 1982 through 1990.
“Dr. Joseph S. Murphy was selected last night by a search committee to be the next chancellor of the City University of New York.
The nomination, which is considered virtually certain to be accepted, will be subject to approval early next week at a meeting of the university’s board of trustees.
Dr. Murphy would succeed Dr. Robert J. Kibbee, who died Wednesday at his home in Manhattan. Dr. Kibbee was to have retired on June 30.
...During his six years as head of Queens College, Dr. Murphy built strong ties to New York City’s political establishment and won a reputation as an effective advocate for the City University.
His relaxed style enabled him to work effectively with students, faculty members and fellow administrators.
In returning to the City University at this time, he will be taking over the helm of an institution at which the leadership and direction has been shaky during the two years of Dr. Kibbee’s illness.”
“Dr. Joseph S. Murphy, chancellor of the City University of New York for the last seven years, announced yesterday that he intended to resign.
Chancellor Murphy, 56 years old, was appointed in 1982. He told an executive session of the 17-member board of trustees that he would step down as soon as a successor could be found, probably next fall.
‘I’ve decided that it is time for me to do other things,’ Chancellor Murphy said in a letter last Wednesday to James Murphy, chairman of the university’s board of trustees. ‘I want to return to academic life, and this is as good a time as any for you and the board of trustees to begin to look for someone to carry on the work.’
Dr. Murphy said he planned to return to the university’s Graduate Center on 42nd street in Manhattan, where he is a tenured professor of political science.
‘The entire university owes Chancellor Murphy an enormous debt of gratitude for his outstanding service and extraordinary commitment to the fulfillment of the educational mission of City University,’ Chairman Murphy said in a statement yesterday. The Murphys are not related.
...Chancellor Murphy’s announcement comes as the 142-year-old institution is again facing financial strains as both the city and the state face severe budget deficits. Also, Chancellor Murphy has been embroiled in a dispute, accused of seeking the ousters of the presidents of several campuses because they were more than 60 years old and had been in office for a decade or more.
...Dr. Murphy oversaw a $1.5 billion capital construction program to modernize 13 university campuses. He expanded collaborative programs under which the university and the city’s Board of Education jointly operated a number of experimental schools.
He also experimented with fresh ideas for a college environment—with varying degrees of success. He began child-care services for students and expanded adult literacy programs. He established the first public law school in the city, began CUNY-TV, a citywide cable-television station run by the university, and set up a summer remedial program for incoming freshmen. Last summer, that program taught basic skills to 7,200 students.”
“The Joseph S. Murphy Institute focuses on education for workers and union members and serves as a research and resource center for publications and public programming. The Institute traces its roots to 1984 and in 2005 was named in honor of former CUNY Chancellor Joseph S. Murphy, a tireless advocate for labor and worker education. The Institute continues as an entity within the School of Labor and Urban Studies, with two specific goals: 1) offer public forums, publish material, and offer programs that will encourage public discourse and greater civic participation, and 2) partner with unions, employers, and other CUNY units to expand educational opportunities for union members and other adult learners seeking to attain the knowledge, skills, and credentials they need to achieve their career goals and improve their economic wellbeing."