New Teacher Interviews: Meet Mrs. Murphy

Post date: Sep 19, 2016 4:48:26 PM

Meet Mrs. Murphy

By Jonathan Holzmann

A lot of things were going through my head as I walked down the Annex hall to classroom #347. Mrs. Hamby, the founder of the engineering department, had left to move to Australia several weeks ago, which was sad even for those of us who only had a few weeks with her (me being one of them); however, Mrs. Murphy was able to achieve a smooth transition, and we continued on with the classes mostly as before. As we sat down across from each other I thought that her transitions were an amazing feat, considering she had not had any teaching experience before she came here.

When I asked her about it, she admitted that it had been rather intimidating, “especially given the relationships and the classroom management that she had, and since I’ve had no experience in that... But I’m on week two, and the students are amazing, and they are very patient, and they understand that I’m in a new position and that we’re learning together.” She also wasn’t thrown in entirely unaided, she had been able to shadow Mrs. Hamby and also take over the planned schedule for the year and change it to fit her style. She has also has had many years experience in the field, both as a general engineer and also in a managerial role.

Mrs. Murphy told me she went, “immediately out of high school to MTSU for a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology.” After that she worked for seven years in the field, working a wide range industries including the paper products and metal fabrication industries. She told me about her time as a quality manager for the paper fabrication and a special type of paper that she worked on for checks, making sure that it met the customer’s needs and the engineering constraints. Mrs. Murphy plans to make good use of her previous experience when teaching the classes, especially when talking about the design process and what actually goes into innovating products.

Aside from her busy professional life Mrs. Murphy also has a full personal life. She is married and has a one year old, and lives on a farm near her family who are able to visit, “a couple of times a week”. Her hobbies include “running, yoga, and kickboxing.” She has been an active member of Big Brothers Big Sisters, a local mentoring program, for five years, and she has also decided to take over all of Mrs. Hamby’s old clubs. These include ACE (Architecture Construction Engineering), SWE (Society of Women Engineers), and the Video Gaming club.

Welcome to Central, Mrs. Murphy, and we hope that you enjoy your first year of teaching.