A full circle summer for New Student and Family Programs director

By Kyle Hobstetter on August 3, 2022

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on July 10, 2022. 

Each year before the start of summer orientation, Towson University’s student orientation leaders get together to pose for a picture at the Tiger statue located near Tiger Plaza.

It was a tradition that Katie Murray, the director of New Student and Family Programs (NSFP), started when she arrived at Towson University in September 2015.

As she prepared to enter her sixth year leading summer orientation at TU, Murray was excited to grab a picture with the students she trains and depends on to introduce new students to campus.

But this year the students welcomed her in a brand new way. 

“Dr. Katie,” the students yelled as Murray squeezed into the middle of the photo.  

While planning this summer’s orientation, Murray was also completing a doctoral degree in educational leadership from Frostburg State University.

“I’ve wanted to be Dr. Murray for forever,” Murray says. “Before my dad passed, that was one of the things that I told him I really wanted for myself. In fact, I didn’t change my last name when I got married because I was going to be Dr. Murray.”

Over the past three years, Murray has been working on TU’s campus, then taking evening classes for her doctoral program. During the summer of 2019 there were days when she would finish up an orientation session at the Center for the Arts building and then make the hour-long drive to Hagerstown to take classes at a satellite campus.

Experienced in both the student and staff side of higher education in her role at TU, she couldn’t help but combine the two when it came to her dissertation, which was titled “Impact of Orientation on First Generation College Students’ Sense of Belonging.”

She has applied her doctoral research directly to her work at TU and how she and her staff can better tailor orientation programming to first generation students.

What's important is the staff development,” she says. “And so, the other piece of that was how [our staff] can use the data to create change for orientation. I really think of it as a collective process.”

The collective process came together on April 1 when she defended her dissertation, with many of the NSFP staff and students watching online. After it was announced she successfully defended her dissertation, there was a loud cheer inside the offices of the University Union.

When she returned to campus, Murray was shown a video of the celebration held in her office.

“I was really excited to hear and feel supported even though I wasn’t here on campus defending,” she says.

Since she arrived on campus, Murray has found ways to continue to update the summer orientation program, as she and her team are tasked with welcoming thousands of first-year and transfer students to campus each year.

Along with developing a new program when she first started, she’s had to change the programming to adjust to new buildings on campus, a worldwide pandemic and new students getting to experience school in person for the first time in two years.

Her staff has come through each challenge with flying colors, and its noticeable to the rest of the Student Affairs team.

“Thinking about Katie brings me nothing but pride and admiration,” says Matt Lenno, assistant vice president of Student Affairs. “Her visionary leadership has provided a stable building block for our students to make the TU campus their home away from home.”

Murray has also been inspiring students who worked with NSFP, whether that’s as a student orientation leader, a student worker or as a graduate assistant.

In fact, after working with NSFP, many students are interested in pursuing careers in higher education and student affairs. An example of that is Kristen Luther ’16, who worked in the NSFP office when she was a student.

As a senior, Luther says she felt lost about what she wanted to do after graduation. Then one day, Murray looked at her and said, “You realize this is my full-time job, right?” 

Luther is now working as the assistant director of campus visits and events for Towson University Admissions, and won the Outstanding Campus Employer Award at this year’s Student Affairs Leadership Awards.

“I respected Katie for allowing me to figure things out, but also appreciated her guidance in helping me realize that being a higher education professional would be a great career option for me,” Luther says.

“Every day I strive to emulate the same leadership qualities Katie modeled—service oriented, authentic, compassionate, responsible, strategic—the list goes on. I am grateful to partner with her again as professionals.”

As Murray watches some of her former students become colleagues, it reminds her why she continues to work in student affairs—a career she started back in 2006 as a first-year mentor down the road at Goucher College.

“You don’t realize how many people you have an impact on,” Murray says. “When I see my former students, and former colleagues, thrive in these roles, it just confirms that this is why I do what I do.”

New Student and Family Programs

Welcome to TU 

Welcome to TU is a week of fun and informative events that will help first-year students connect with resources, programs and people at Towson University.

More than 100 events are planned by New Student and Family Programs, the Office of Student Activities and TU Athletics to kick off the fall academic term.

Some events are mandatory for first-year students. Student should to check their TU email and communicate with their Resident Assistant (RA) and First Year Experience (FYE) Leader when they arrive on campus in August.

First-year students can learn about events, organizations and programs offered on campus by checking out Involved@TU website.