{"id":477,"date":"2013-12-06T14:55:29","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T19:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/?p=477"},"modified":"2013-12-06T14:55:29","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T19:55:29","slug":"meet-the-murphys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/06\/meet-the-murphys\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Murphys"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr.<\/a>On the sidelines of a Colonel soccer match in late October, the incoming Nicholls president walks through the crowd without attracting much attention. Wearing a university baseball cap and a Nicholls tee pulled over his dress shirt, he reaches for his long-lens camera and starts photographing the action. Only two weeks have passed since he was selected for the job, but he already looks like he belongs here. Like he is proud of this place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear it\u2019s been quite a season,\u201d he says of the soccer team\u2019s then-undefeated run. \u201cI coached my daughter\u2019s soccer team to a perfect season once \u2014 0-8 \u2014 we lost every game. When they called for dads to participate, I thought I\u2019d be putting out the orange cones, not coaching.\u201d He laughs at the memory then goes back to cheering on his new team \u2014 the Colonels.<\/p>\n

Meet Dr. Bruce T. Murphy, the fifth president of Nicholls. He\u2019s a retired lieutenant colonel who served 23 years in the U.S. Army. He\u2019s a five-time college graduate who attended some of the nation\u2019s most elite universities. He\u2019s an accomplished academian who\u2019s been a leadership and management professor, a business school dean and, most recently, a vice president of academic affairs.<\/p>\n

But beyond his resume, he\u2019s a down-to-earth man who loves bragging about his wife, enjoys a nice round of golf and carries a black and red backpack rather than a briefcase. Not the stereotypically rigid military-type or stuffy administrator, Murphy can tell adventure stories for days about the pancake breakfast he worked with John Wayne, his trip to the British School of Falconry and the time he competed on Cross-Wits<\/em>, a nationally televised game show.<\/p>\n

\"Murphy<\/a>\u201cYou know, I anticipate that I\u2019ll be at Nicholls long enough to tell many of these stories for years to come. You don\u2019t want to get them all at the same time, do you?\u201d he teases before revealing that he and celebrity partner Betty White won the final round of Cross-Wits<\/em>. His prize package? A portable dishwashing machine, two suitcases, a Polaroid camera and a trip to the Virgin Islands \u2026 for one. \u201cI went, but it was terrible,\u201d he says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Murphy grew up in Encino, Calif., where dinner conversations often revolved around which celebrity his mother had run into at the grocery store that day. Despite his proximity to Hollywood, he led a pretty typical childhood \u2014 participating in Boy Scout activities and playing high school varsity football. His dream was to earn an English degree, serve two years in the Army and then become a high school teacher and coach.<\/p>\n

A quite unusual college experience, however, shifted his career path. Murphy began his studies at the University of San Francisco, then moved back home to attend junior college, before finally landing at the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those four years, I lived in a dorm, at home, in an apartment and in a fraternity house; I had the whole gamut of student experiences,\u201d he says. \u201cInterestingly, I pledged a fraternity as a senior and was elected president. It was very bizarre but fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his senior year in Berkeley\u2019s ROTC, Murphy qualified for an Army fellowship that would pay his way to graduate school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was definitely not thinking of graduate school at the time, but it was just a deal I couldn\u2019t pass up, and the Army kept offering me opportunities like that,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI didn\u2019t say, \u2018Hey, I think I\u2019ll spend the next 20 years of my life in the Army.\u2019 It just happened and seemed to pass by very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his Army career, Murphy spent nine years on college campuses \u2014 as either a student or professor \u2014 and another nine years serving overseas, mostly in Germany and Central America. His stint also included assignments with Reagan\u2019s Presidential Inauguration Committee and at the Pentagon, where he met his wife, Jeanne, a U.S. Army colonel and former international athlete.<\/p>\n

For the past couple of years, Murphy has been searching for an opportunity at the next level \u2014 a university presidency. From the moment he and Jeanne stepped foot on the Thibodaux campus, they sensed something different. They noticed a unique university culture where people were proud of their work and their region.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing named president was a moment I\u2019ll treasure forever,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve had people tell me, \u2018When it\u2019s right, you\u2019ll know it, and they\u2019ll know it. At Nicholls, it certainly feels that way to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Written by Stephanie Detillier Verdin, publications coordinator<\/em><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the fall 2013 issue of Voila! magazine. Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read the entire issue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the sidelines of a Colonel soccer match in late October, the incoming Nicholls president walks through the crowd without attracting much attention. Wearing a university baseball cap and a Nicholls tee pulled over his dress shirt, he reaches for his long-lens camera and starts photographing the action. Only two weeks have passed since he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the Murphys - The Colonel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/06\/meet-the-murphys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Murphys - The Colonel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the sidelines of a Colonel soccer match in late October, the incoming Nicholls president walks through the crowd without attracting much attention. 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