NACE Awards:
2004 Academy of Fellows
Recognizing career services and HR professionals for their advancement of knowledge, leadership, and excellence in professional practice.
Neil Murray
During his 26 years as a career services practitioner, Neil Murray saw the profession change immensely.
“By the latter part of my career, the work barely resembled what it had been when I started,” says Murray, former director of the career services center at the University of California—San Diego (UCSD).
Previously, he says, career centers offered only a handful of services, such as individual advising, on-campus interviews, and informational resources. And staffing consisted of a limited number of roles—director, advisers, and secretaries.
“Over the past 10 years, in particular, we were transformed,” Murray says. “Spurred mostly by technology and aided by our own entrepreneurism, we took on new roles and eliminated some others. Our services multiplied and our esteem grew.” For his contributions to the profession, Murray has been inducted into the NACE Academy of Fellows.
Besides his service to UCSD, his articles and presentations helped call attention to such issues as generational matters, gender-related trends, parental relations, and the importance of innovation. But, two of the projects he worked on—NACElink and the Career Services Institute—are very special to him.
“I was fortunate enough to have been on the ground floor of both these initiatives,” Murray explains. “NACElink puts our profession where it always should have been—in charge of our own fate, masters of our own destiny, rather than being reliant upon or beholden to commercial vendors. The Institute is a training and development jewel dedicated to all those who work in career centers—our entire profession—not just directors and senior advisers.”
The empowerment and equal opportunity that these services provide are consistent with Murray’s philosophy of service and management. It’s the same one he had when he began his career.
“Our greatest challenge remains the same: providing an equitable level of service for all of our students regardless of their background and interests,” he says.
Besides the fulfillment of helping to advance the profession through his work, Murray has taken something else with him into retirement.
“I’ve made some wonderful friendships in this profession and engaged in some rather remarkable collaborations with people for whom I have very high regard,” Murray notes. “I know that some of those relationships will fade with time, but the memories won’t. Those, and the relationships that I am committed to continuing beyond retirement, are a great and lasting reward.”
