Desmond Murray ’82 (Communication) has put his major and personal connections to work in a new role at SUNY New Paltz, serving as an Alumni Advisory Council member.
An active volunteer with First World alumni activities, Murray is now working with the College’s Office of Alumni Relations to communicate with and engage alumni. He has helped promote recent events and offered advice on how to develop internships among alumni. This new role connects his past aspirations with his current career experiences.
Murray confesses he originally was eager to find work in communication – specifically, on television. His eighth-grade teacher and longtime friend Irving Gikofsky, later known as popular TV weatherman Mr. G, was one of Murray’s inspirations.
Having grown up in the Bronx, N.Y., Murray initially returned to New York City after graduating from SUNY New Paltz to pursue this career path. But soon, a different job opportunity called him back to the Hudson Valley.
“As they say, I tasted the water and never left,” Murray said with a laugh.
What lured Murray back was being hired in the Higher Education Opportunity Program office at Marist College, which led to his current job as associate director of field experience. He is responsible for coordinating and monitoring the College’s internship program through the Center for Career Services. While his present position doesn’t land squarely in the communication field, Murray still “delves into communication,” especially through his role as the editor of Marist’s Diversity Works magazine, which is written by students and covers stories relating to affirmative action and diversity.
“I found my niche at Marist, working with students,” Murray said. “I feel like I have a lot more to do. I’ve cracked a little bit of the door, but I have to open it.”
As a student at SUNY New Paltz – in addition to serving as a resident assistant and member of the Black Student Union – Murray was involved with the campus radio station (WFNP) and campus publications The Oracle and Fahari Libertad. He completed two communication internships with Con Edison in New York City, as well as an internship with the Poughkeepsie Journal in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Murray calls his years at the College “the best time of my life.” One memorable college experience includes a trip to Washington, D.C., when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. It was observed for the first time in 1986.
“Stevie Wonder was there, and I remember us being in the cold – it snowed,” he said. “We were around people from the whole country.”
Encouraged by memories like this, Murray welcomed his role on the Alumni Advisory Council, seeing it as an opportunity to rekindle his relationship with the College.
“By participating with the council, I have an opportunity to reconnect with SUNY New Paltz,” said Murray. “The people I went to school with are my lifelong friends, but being on the council is going to reconnect me with the school a little bit. Even though I’m only 20 minutes away, I’ve been away – because of life.”
