Foundation Chair

Teachers College’s Suzanne M. Murphy to Chair the Kingsborough Community College Foundation

Suzanne M. Murphy, Vice President for Development and External Affairs at Teachers College, Columbia University, has been elected Chairperson of the Kingsborough Community College (KCC) Foundation.

Murphy has served for several years as Vice Chairperson of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, comprised of volunteers from the city's non-profit and for-profit sectors and industries. The KCC Foundation is a tax-exempt philanthropic organization that generates critically needed financial support for students. KCC is part of the City University of New York system and is the only community college in Brooklyn. Its 71-acre campus is located in Manhattan Beach, overlooking Sheepshead Bay, Jamaica Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Murphy, who holds both Ed.M. and M.A. degrees in organizational psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, has brought to the KCC Foundation nearly three decades of higher education leadership experience in resource development, institution-building, and reputation management, having served in senior-level executive positions in enrollment services and central development.

"It has been my passion to connect great ideas with human and financial resources in ways that spark innovation and inspire faculty and students at great higher education institutions to do phenomenal work," said Murphy. "I'm especially honored to have the opportunity to put my experience to work for a remarkable institution like KCC, which creates exciting pathways to rewarding educational experiences, lives and careers for so many deserving students."

Combining high energy, infectious enthusiasm, and strategic focus, Murphy has demonstrated a unique ability to hone innovative ideas and engineer a "matchmaking" among faculty, board members and donors that brings those ideas to life, bolstering the enrollment, financial health, and reputation of the institutions she serves.

This gift for innovative matchmaking has served Murphy well as TC's chief development officer since 2008, where she has led the College's historic Where the Future Comes First campaign—the nation's largest for a graduate school of education. The Campaign has raised $320 million to date, creating 159 endowed scholarships and launching many groundbreaking initiatives.

Previously, Murphy served as Vice President of College Resources at Sarah Lawrence College, and Vice President of External Affairs and Enrollment Services at Marymount Manhattan College, where she earned her undergraduate degree. She has also taught intensive summer courses in reading and writing to students in Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), and created a similar program for economically disadvantaged children who did not meet HEOP poverty requirements.

Personally devoted to the institutions she serves, Murphy has also invested her own resources to create student scholarships at various institutions, including a scholarship for KCC for single heads of households.