'Irish Night' Celebrates New Chair for GSE Dean Murphy

October 07, 1999

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By Catherine Walsh
Special to the Gazette

Graduate School of Education (GSE) Campaign co-chairs John Hobbs (left) and Elisabeth Hobbs (second from right) meet with President Neil L. Rudenstine (second from left) and GSE Dean Jerome T. Murphy outside Askwith Lecture Hall before the Thursday, Sept. 30, celebration.

"Irish night" at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) last Thursday not only honored the school’s dean, Jerome T. Murphy, with an owed professorship that had been created secretly in his name, but it also featured Murphy’s favorite Irish-American writer and a veteran high school teacher – Frank McCourt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoirist.

The evening was a tribute to Murphy’s leadership at GSE. Speakers lauded his achievements over a quarter century at the Ed School, as a faculty member studying educational policy, and as a dean who has, since 1992, brought unparalleled success to the Ed School’s capital campaign.

Dean Murphy and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt listen as Murphy, after hearing a new chair had been established in his name, is lauded from the podium. McCourt later spoke about his experiences teaching in New York City¹s public schools.

University President Neil L. Rudenstine told the crowd of more than 850 people in Longfellow’s Askwith Hall and the Gutman Conference Center – where the event was simulcast – that he had originally considered Murphy’s $60 million campaign goal "unachievable."

Pointing out that GSE had surpassed this goal over a year ago, Rudenstine praised Murphy’s "extraordinary and infectious energy, which has inspired so many at the School and beyond."

"I never make an appointment of anyone who isn’t smarter than I am," said Rudenstine with a smile. "Jerry knows that money matters only because of the programs it supports and the quality of the faculty it sustains." Rudenstine said that the GSE has raised funds for more than a dozen chairs during Murphy’s tenure – more than doubling the number of owed professorships at the School. "He has raised so many chairs for the Graduate School of Education that it is fitting to find a chair for him to sit in."

During Murphy’s tenure as dean, the GSE has increased its full-time faculty and launched new programs in the arts in education, technology, and in Mind, Brain, and Education, among other areas. The school has also diversified its student body: today 26 percent of students are students of color and 10 percent come from other countries.

Chair Honors Two Policy Leaders
GSE campaign co-chairs Elisabeth and John Hobbs opened the Askwith Education Forum by informing the audience that the idea of inviting Frank McCourt to speak about teaching was Murphy’s. "Frank is here to honor you tonight, Jerry," said Liz Hobbs. "We want to use the excitement of this evening to announce a very significant event at the Harvard Graduate School of Education."

Hobbs said that nearly 50 fri s and alumni of the Ed School had contributed funds for a chair that, upon Murphy’s retirement, will be known as the Jerome T. Murphy Professorship in Education. (University policy does not allow a professorship to be named for an active member of the faculty.)

Murphy pumped a fist into the air and beamed when John Hobbs revealed that for the rest of Murphy’s tenure, the chair will bear the name of Harold "Doc" Howe II, a former U.S. Commissioner for Education and retired GSE lecturer. Murphy often cites Howe as a hero and role model.

Rising to his feet, Murphy thanked the Hobbses. "Liz and John, I am overwhelmed by this act of generosity to the School and your honoring of me," he said. "Because I have always wanted to honor Doc Howe with a chair, you have made me so very happy."

Murphy, like Howe, spent years working on school desegregation and other policy issues in Washington, D.C., during the Johnson administration.

Murphy called the chair "a vote of confidence" in the Ed School’s mission, particularly its pursuit of excellence in teaching and research.

McCourt Joins Celebration
Murphy then introduced McCourt not only as the best-selling author of Angela’s Ashes and ’Tis, but also as a former teacher of English literature who has called for the establishment of a "teachers’ hall of fame."

Impressed with the tribute given to the Dean, McCourt joked that "one of these days I’m going to get my own chair." He then announced that a former student of his, Dianne Morales, was sitting in the audience.

"It’s a fantastic thing to have taught for 30 years in the New York public schools and to find one of your students studying at Harvard . . . and a doctoral candidate, if you don’t mind."

McCourt regaled listeners with stories of his grammar schooling in Limerick, Ireland – he left school at 14 – as well as his teaching experiences at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan.

Later, during dinner at Upstairs at the Pudding, the Harvard Krokodiloes a cappella singing group serenaded Murphy, McCourt, and fri s with "Danny Boy" and other tunes. After Murphy was thoroughly "roasted and toasted," he again rose to his feet, acknowleding his wife, Susan, as an indispensable partner and "best fri ," and thanking fri s, colleagues, and family members "for one of the most memorable nights of our lives."

Furtive Fundraising: A $3.4 Million Surprise
When the Ed School exceeded its campaign goal last November, campaign co-chairs Elisabeth and John Hobbs decided that the time had come to honor Dean Jerome T. Murphy with a chair of his own. Aware of Murphy’s modesty, they set out on a secret quest along with former Graduate School of Education (GSE) Dean Patricia Albjerg Graham and John de Cuevas, a member of the Ed School’s Dean’s Council and Visiting Committee.

"One of the fun and exciting aspects of this chair was putting it together without Jerry’s knowing," said Liz Hobbs, co-chair of the campaign for the GSE.

A series of clandestine planning powwows and breakfast meetings got under way early in the year. De Cuevas, a key participant in these sessions, said he was moved by people’s willingness to give to this chair.

"I think people wanted to recognize Jerry for the great leader that he is," says de Cuevas.

Former Dean Graham agreed that Murphy has an unusual ability to generate loyal support. "Not only does Jerry have a strong sense of what the School should be doing vis-a-vis national issues in education, but he possesses the expertise to both finance that vision and to implement it."

Murphy’s ability to bridge research and action leads people to support the Ed School, said Timothy E. Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation and chair of GSE’s Visiting Committee. "People like Jerry Murphy make the transition from thought to action real, and he does so with enormous enthusiasm, grace, and commitment," Wirth said.

The result is funds totalling $3.4 million thus far – enough not only for an owed professorship that will bear Murphy’s name after his retirement, but also for an owed fellowship named after former U.S. Commissioner of Education and GSE lecturer Harold "Doc" Howe II and an owed dean’s discretionary fund.

William F. Thompson, a co-chair of the University-wide campaign and chair of the GSE Dean’s Council, said the dinner in honor of Murphy last week exemplified what makes the Ed School special and why its campaign succeeded.

"That room was filled with love – love for Jerry who personifies the Ed School," says Thompson. "There wasn’t one person in that room who wasn’t deeply moved by who Jerry is and the values that he stands for."