Furniture Design Workshop Honors Murphy

Reprinted Courtesy of KSU Foundation

Stephen and Sylvia Murphy, Council Grove, Kansas, have made a pledge of $25,000 to the Kansas State University Foundation Changing Lives Campaign to establish the Stephen M. Murphy IAPD Furniture Design Workshop Fund.

This fund honors Stephen Murphy, one of two interior architecture and product design department heads ever at K-State. The fund will be used to name the workshop and to maintain equipment in the workshop at Seaton Court, in the College of Architecture, Planning and Design at K-State, and supplement its Department of Interior Architecture and Product Design.

Murphy joined K-State in 1968. In 1988 he became the department head. Murphy developed the curriculum for the courses and founded the furniture design workshop. Stephen plans to retire in July 2007, after 39 years at K-State.

The Murphys are both natives of Holton, Kansas. Stephen is a 1968 graduate of Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. Currently he is a professor of interior architecture and product design at K-State. Sylvia attended K-State in 1966 to 1968, taking classes in business management and horticulture. She retired in 2001, after 33 years as a senior administrative assistant in the K-State College of Agriculture. The Murphys are members of Presidents Club, a KSU Foundation leadership organization for friends and alumni of K-State. They are also lifetime members of the K-State Alumni Association.

“It has been a privilege to have been given the opportunity to work with so many outstanding students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni for 39 years,” Stephen Murphy said. “We wanted to give something back to KSU to help support future students’ opportunities. And we are pleased that our daughters, Barbara and Deborah, both KSU seniors, are part of the KSU legacy.”

“This gift is fitting tribute to the legacy of Steve Murphy. His dedication to the furniture design workshop over the years has been instrumental in numerous student design recognitions and awards,” said Dennis Law, dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design.

Marvin Manlove, a 1968 K-State alumnus and longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Murphy, said, “He has done an incredible job of enhancing and building on the program’s heritage. His leadership of the product design initiative is his personal legacy. This holistic approach to design continues to develop students who are well-rounded designers and in demand by firms across the country.”

The KSU Foundation’s Changing Lives Campaign for Kansas State University is a comprehensive $500 million campaign that will infuse new funds into virtually every dimension of the university. The KSU Foundation coordinates fundraising efforts with alumni, friends, corporations and foundations to secure private support for Kansas State University.