Joe Murray
Assistant Professor,
Electronic Media

101E Franklin Hall
Tel: 330-672-1914
Email: gmurray@kent.edu

Spring 2008 Office Hours

Joe Murray has worked as a producer/director, graphic designer, editor and writer for a variety of PBS and commercial television stations and television post-production companies. Children’s television specials and documentaries Murray produced in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East have earned him many awards including Oebie and Producer of the Year awards from the Ohio Educational Broadcasting Network Commission and three Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences-Cleveland.

Before joining the faculty this semester, he was the director of the New Media Center, working regularly with students, faculty and administrators to establish strategies and objectives to support teaching, learning and research in higher education.

In January of 2002, Murray joined his brother and a colleague from the University of Wisconsin on a three-week trip to Antarctica as part of an adventure/research expedition. The photographs and video he shot there formed the basis of the children's television series, Antarctica: 90 Degrees South which currently airs on PBS.

He holds undergraduate degrees in graphic design and art from Youngstown State University and Kent State University, and a master's degree in instructional technology and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Kent State University. He has conducted experimental field studies and research on the effects of television and media on preadolescent artistic performance and creativity. His current research interests are in digital storytelling, media influence on perception and the public understanding of science.

Murray is an avid pilot and received his instrument training and rating in Kent State's flight program. He can often be found flying old airplanes in and out of grass airfields and farms around the Midwest, mostly looking for a free lunch and home-made pie.