Full Name
Michael Murray
Job Title
President
Institution
Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Speaker Bio
Dr. Michael Murray is President and CEO of the Foundations. In that role he oversees the development and execution of the strategic objectives of the Foundations in keeping with the values of AVDF's Board of Trustees. The Foundations seek to promote the flourishing of a diverse and inclusive America by investing in key assets that define our common future including education, spirituality, health, and the well-being of the environment.
Dr. Murray joined AVDF from the John Templeton Foundation where he served first as Vice President of Philosophy and Theology and, since 2011, as Senior Vice President of Programs. In that capacity, Dr. Murray was responsible for overseeing the growth of the Foundation's grant making that supports academic research and public engagement in the sciences and between the science and the humanities. During this period the Foundation's annual grant support grew from $72M to $162M. He further managed the expansion of the Foundation's work beyond North America and Western Europe to Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. In 2016, he completed a re-launching of the Foundation's departments of Communications, Public Engagement, and Strategic Alliances.
Dr. Murray began his career at Franklin and Marshall College where he was the Arthur and Katherine Shadek Chair in Philosophy and the Humanities. He also held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the University of Notre Dame, and Oxford University. He has published numerous academic articles as well as monographs and edited collections with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Blackwell, and Yale University Press. His research focuses on issues at the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology, as well as on seventeenth century Continental philosophy. Dr. Murray is currently a Senior Visiting Scholar at Franklin and Marshall.
Dr. Murray is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in philosophy from Franklin and Marshall College, and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife Kirsten, a Director at Creative Health Services, a large community behavioral health agency in suburban Philadelphia, have three children, Samuel, Elise, and Julia.
Dr. Murray joined AVDF from the John Templeton Foundation where he served first as Vice President of Philosophy and Theology and, since 2011, as Senior Vice President of Programs. In that capacity, Dr. Murray was responsible for overseeing the growth of the Foundation's grant making that supports academic research and public engagement in the sciences and between the science and the humanities. During this period the Foundation's annual grant support grew from $72M to $162M. He further managed the expansion of the Foundation's work beyond North America and Western Europe to Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. In 2016, he completed a re-launching of the Foundation's departments of Communications, Public Engagement, and Strategic Alliances.
Dr. Murray began his career at Franklin and Marshall College where he was the Arthur and Katherine Shadek Chair in Philosophy and the Humanities. He also held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the University of Notre Dame, and Oxford University. He has published numerous academic articles as well as monographs and edited collections with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Blackwell, and Yale University Press. His research focuses on issues at the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology, as well as on seventeenth century Continental philosophy. Dr. Murray is currently a Senior Visiting Scholar at Franklin and Marshall.
Dr. Murray is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in philosophy from Franklin and Marshall College, and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife Kirsten, a Director at Creative Health Services, a large community behavioral health agency in suburban Philadelphia, have three children, Samuel, Elise, and Julia.
Speaking At
