Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 14 December 1, 1994 - Murphy appointed DFWS head

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Murphy appointed DFWS head

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 14 - December 1, 1994

Virginia Tech has appointed Brian R. Murphy to head the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences in the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources. Murphy had been the associate department head for three years at Texas A&M University, where he was also a professor.

In addition to his administrative duties at Virginia Tech, he will serve as a professor in the fisheries and wildlife sciences department. Murphy succeeds Larry A. Nielsen, who left the university last March to become director of the School of Forest Resources at Penn State. The appointment concludes a national search during which four candidates were interviewed from a field of 30 applicants.

At Texas A&M, Murphy oversaw the departmental graduate programs for 180 graduate students on four campuses and coordinated a teaching and research exchange program between Texas A&M and the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

Widely recognized as an outstanding teacher and researcher, Murphy has received numerous awards for teaching, served as principal investigator or co-investigator on 35 research projects, directed 21 graduate students, and published more than 40 refereed journal articles.

In 1994 he received the Excellence in Education Award, the highest teaching honor given by the American Fisheries Society. He is currently co-editing the textbook, "Fisheries Techniques," and previously served on the editorial advisory board of Fisheries Research .

A fellow of the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists, he specializes in reservoir fisheries management and mathematical indexes to evaluate conditions of fish stocks. His experience includes research in Mexico and Cuba.

At Virginia Tech, Murphy will continue teaching courses in scientific presentations and fisheries professional development.

He earned his doctorate in fisheries science from Virginia Tech, a master's degree in environmental toxicology and radiation biology from Purdue University, and a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Detroit.