Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy, Ph.D., served De Anza College as its president for fourteen years, a tenure distinguished by a commitment to equity, student civic and political engagement, and academic excellence. Murphy taught political theory and Urban Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara University, and San Francisco State University, where he directed the San Francisco Urban Institute.  He served as the principle legislative consultant for the California State Legislature’s 1980s review of California’s Master Plan for Higher Education and the Legislature’s redrafting of legislation governing California’s community colleges. He has served on multiple national Boards and written widely on civic engagement and democracy. He was the co-founder of The Democracy Commitment, the national coalition of community colleges devoted to student civic participation.  Murphy received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, all in Political Science.