UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 7, Page 1
October 13, 1994
Frank Murray to step down as education college dean

     Frank B. Murray, H. Rodney Sharp Professor in the Departments of
Educational Studies and Psychology, will step down as dean of the
College of Education this spring after 15 years' service, Provost
Melvyn Schiavelli announced today.
     Murray, who joined the Delaware faculty in 1969 and has been dean
since 1980, said he decided not to seek another five-year term and
plans to leave the post at the end of the academic year when he goes
on sabbatical leave.
     "I have reluctantly accepted Dean Murray's resignation,"
Schiavelli said. "He has been a leading force in the College of
Education, and my intention is to find ways to keep him involved in
the betterment of the University. He has impressed me as an
administrator who wears the scholar's mantle and wears it well,"
Schiavelli said.
     When Murray became dean, the college had just been restructured
and had had three deans within 10 years. It was a time of declining
enrollments in education majors, reflecting the declining enrollments
in the public schools.
     During his tenure, Murray successfully met the challenge by
rebuilding the faculty and greatly increasing the number and quality
of students in the college, including minority students under the
ASPIRE program, which recruits and supports under-represented groups.
Enrollments in doctoral programs doubled while master's degree
enrollments remained steady.
     Curriculum was expanded, including the doctoral degree program in
educational leadership. The college also received a U.S. Department of
Education grant to establish the Principals' Leadership Academy, a
national three-week summer workshop that provides intensive training
in leadership skills and methods of restructuring schools for
principals from all over the country.
     Within Delaware, the college also worked closely with the state
Department of Public Instruction, on such efforts as Project 21 to
reform math, science and technology education.
     A graduate of St. John's College with advanced degrees from the
Johns Hopkins University, Murray has actively pursued research in
children's cognitive and intellectual development.
     He also has been in the forefront of reform in teacher education.
which has brought him and the college national and international
recognition.
     Murray served as president of the Project 30 Alliance, a
consortium of institutions of higher learning whose goal is to
redesign the way future teachers are educated, and as chairperson of
the Holmes Group, an organization of 97 universities with a similar
goal.
     Most recently Murray was awarded an honorary doctor of science
degree by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.
     In his letter to the provost, Murray wrote that the college has
"assembled a superb faculty and leadership team that give the college
a reputation for high quality accomplishment...."
     The change of position "does not signify any departure from my
commitment to the college's goals and program...
     "Rather, my purpose is to insure that the acknowledged gains the
college has made over the last decade and a half firmly hold. I
believe this is best done at this time if others take responsibility
and leadership for the college."
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure