The Spire

Matt Nickerson ‘24

Chief Features Editor

It is undoubtedly true that the Washington semester program is exclusive: only twenty-something politically-minded students who apply are accepted to complete rigorous internships and research down in the nation’s capital. But the program’s newest director, Christopher Murray, seeks to better educate the community on the experience and results of their peers’ unique experience. Murray has been affiliated with Holy Cross for many years, and will be the first program director directly based down in DC with the students. With a foot firmly planted in both worlds, Murray has several plans for the future of the program to ensure the gulf of understanding between the program’s participants and the Crusader community becomes more narrow.

At the end of last year, upon the retirement of Gary DeAngelis, longtime director of the Washington program for over thirty years, an extensive analysis was done to determine whether the next Director of the Washington Semester Program would be based in Worcester or in D.C. After input from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other universities, it was decided to relocate the position to D.C. This opened up the possibility for Murray to throw his hat in the ring. “I thought it would be an interesting next stage of my career,” he reflects. Previously, after doing graduate studies in political science at the University of Wisconsin, he was recruited to work at his alma mater, Marquette University. Since 1999, he served as the Coordinator of Student Affairs and Lecturer in Political Science at the school’s Les Aspin Center for Government until he was appointed Acting Director in 2022. It was true that before interviewing for the role as the Washington Program Director, Murray had never been on Mount St. James. Before Thursday, November 2nd, the day of the Vannielli Award reception for the Spring 2023 semester, Murray had been on campus only twice: once in May for the formal interview, and once in August to submit his documentation to the HR department. (“I’m still learning my way around campus and the city,” he laughs when I ask him how his first prolonged time at Holy Cross is going.) He nonetheless possesses a familiarity with the community, serving as a Visiting Lecturer for one of the program’s seminars since August 2014. Michelle Sterk Barrett, the director of Holy Cross’ J.D. Power Center for Liberal Arts in the World, stated in her speech at the Vanicelli reception that Murray’s years of experience with the participating students was one reason why he was “unanimously selected for the role after a national search.”

Another contributing factor to that decision was Murray’s extensive experience in D.C. since he is the first of the program’s directors to be directly based down in Washington. A major value of this comes in the form of being much more involved in fostering connections for students to take advantage of new internships and perhaps even jobs. “There’s a great alumni network down there, composed of people who want to help by offering internships for students. With these previous students, being directly based in the city, I can outreach, coordinate, and organize with them,” Murray says. Yet an even greater result is a much more established connection with the students living in DC. “I get direct interaction with the current [fall semester] students,” Murray says approvingly. “I know them much better.” In addition to teaching, providing support with research projects, and overseeing internships, he describes his role as somewhat of an “RA” position, where he meets with every student involved in the program once a week, for about a half an hour. In these weekly talks, he determines not only how every student is going in terms of their research and internships, but about connections they’ve made with alumni, their housing situations, and any fun activities they’ve been able to get up to exploring the city. And while it is no longer his main role, Murray will continue to teach one of the seminar classes– in line with the beginnings of his involvement with Holy Cross.

Although Murray won’t serve on campus full-time, he is committed to making sure that the DC program isn’t an “island” but thoroughly connected to campus. Extensive on-campus support for the program exists within the J.D. Power Center and the Political Science Department. In his short time as the Washington Director, he’s already been working closely with the Offices of Student Involvement and Career Development. In his previous role with Marquette, there were some joint events with Holy Cross, such as friendly softball and soccer games, shared guest speakers, and single-day conferences focused on the Jesuit missions both shared and distinct between institutions– practices that could potentially continue. In terms of a large-scale project, Murray has begun plans to bring the research projects onto Crossworks, Holy Cross’ open-access institutional repository which publishes scholarly works and research by members of the college community. “The research projects are a unique aspect of Holy Cross’ program,” Murray states adamantly, both to me and in his speech before the Vannicelli Award lecture. Those who win said award do receive bound copies of their projects, but even those haven’t been made publicly available. Rather than having the fruits of entire semesters of work languishing on a thumb drive, archiving projects will gift authors an individualized URL: which they can provide to the differing audiences of future employers, graduate schools, and former students, who can arrange for their projects from years past to be uploaded as well. It’s a project that Murray sees being completed within the next six months to a year. “This would serve as a model for current students starting the DC program, who might be anxious about doing all of that work,” Murray offers thoughtfully. “It can also target Holy Cross alums, who are passionate about the college and wish to learn more.”

On a last note, Murray sums up the appeal of the Washington Program to him: “There’s nothing like the Holy Cross DC program at other universities.” And with this new director in charge, it’s clear that his new policies and plans will ensure the DC program at Holy Cross remains on top.