Head Softball Coach Patrick Murphy has spent 27 amazing years at the Capstone, and while winning a national championship was an unforgettable moment, he said the people he meets daily are what makes UA an incredible place to work.
“I can’t say enough about the people at UA,” Murphy said, reflecting on the wide range of wonderful colleagues he has known not just in athletics, but across campus, in all job roles.
He shared just one example. Murphy was working in his Coleman Coliseum office while two staff were painting the hallway. “One of them knocked on my door and said, ‘Hey, Coach, your team is one of my favorites to watch on campus.’ It made my day to hear him say that.”
Interactions with faculty and staff can also make a student’s day, and more, he observed. While faculty of course play a crucial role in UA’s mission to serve students, the role of staff in a student’s education should not be overlooked.
“Housing, dining, transportation, staff in the Student Center or financial aid or Rose Administration — anybody in a staff position touches a student life every day.”
Everybody is extremely important to the mission of educating students, wherever they are from.
Alumni embrace the mission, as he sees whenever he visits an alumni chapter. “One of the most special things I get to do is speak to alumni groups and to sit in their presence and feel their love for the school is unbelievable. I feel the love they have for Alabama every time I’m with them.”
Faculty and staff show their loyalty to the University’s mission in many ways, including giving. After the 2012 softball national championship, Murphy started an endowed scholarship in his mother’s name for a deserving softball student-athlete. This year he is serving the mission as an ambassador for the We Are UA giving campaign.
“One of the ways we can show we are bought in to the mission of the school is to give to the school. I believe in my school,” Murphy said. And he believes in his school’s future.
“One of the coolest things about working on a college campus is the diversity not just of the student body but faculty and staff. It’s a worldview sitting right here in Tuscaloosa.
It’s unbelievable how far it’s come in the 27 years I’ve been here. Things change and things improve. The thing I look forward to the most is the increasing diversity on campus, of students and also faculty and staff. I think we’re going in the right direction and in the years to come it’s going to get better and better.”
To learn more about the We Are UA giving campaign and to support a unique giving opportunity of your choice, visit weareua.ua.edu.