Holbrook appoints vice president for University Relations

COLUMBUS - Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook has named the associate chancellor for public affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, William M. Murphy, to be the university's new vice president for university relations. Murphy's appointment will go before the university's Board of Trustees at its July 11 meeting and is expected to be effective Sept. 2.

He will report directly to the president.

Murphy will lead Ohio State's strategic communications efforts in marketing, media relations, and research communications to effectively position the university as a top research institution, and will serve as the university's chief spokesperson. He will manage a budget of more than $2 million and a staff of more than 40 people, and will work closely with college and department communications offices to leverage resources on behalf of the university.

As vice president for university relations, he also is responsible for directing the efforts of the WOSU stations and their transition from analog to digital broadcasting.

"Bill's experience leading communications efforts at two exceptional universities makes him tremendously well-qualified to promote the values and excellence at Ohio State, and the progress we are making with the Academic Plan," Holbrook said. "He will be an outstanding addition to my senior administrative team."

Murphy has served since 1995 in his current position at the U of I, where he is campus spokesman and responsible for communications strategy as well as issues management and crisis communications. He also has led efforts to revamp the institution's graphic identity. From 1988 to 1995, he was assistant vice president for university news and publications at the University of Chicago, where he had worked since 1981 in positions that included founding editor of the faculty and staff newspaper, associate director for publications, director of publications, and acting director of the news office.

Murphy holds a Ph.D. in modern Irish history and a master's in modern British history, both from the University of Chicago, where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow. His bachelor's degree is from the University of Notre Dame, and he participated in the Careers in Business program at New York University's Graduate School of Business.

Among his many activities, he has served as co-chair of the public affairs network annual meeting of the Association of American Universities, for which he also serves on the public affairs committee. He is on the advisory committee of the University of Chicago Magazine and has served on the public issues task force of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Murphy replaces Lee C. Tashjian Jr., who left the university late last year to return to the corporate world. Barbara R. Snyder, vice provost for academic policy and human resources and professor of law, has served in the position in an interim capacity. The appointment culminates a national search that attracted more than 200 applicants and nominees. William J. Shkurti, senior vice president for business and finance, chaired the search committee.