Up Close With Chancellor Toni Murdock

Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation and Access

Ask Chancellor Toni Murdock what sets Antioch University Seattle apart from other higher education institutions around Puget Sound and she's quick to offer an animated overview.

"We're doers as well as thinkers," says Murdock, who was Seattle campus president for nine years before becoming chancellor of the five Antioch campuses nationwide.

"Social justice and diversity top the list. Experiential learning in both practice and theory is key, too. Students have a personal responsibility to take part in the focus of their degrees. Then there's also the importance of community service and engagement.

"We serve adult learners, but in very different ways."

Rich History with Visionary Leaders

What makes Antioch different? Murdock likes to reflect on the university's rich history of 150-plus years.

"We're doers
as well as thinkers." "There is no other institution that can claim Horace Mann as its first president. Mann was a progressive educator, a women's rights advocate and an abolitionist," she says.

Antioch's progressive tradition remains strong. Of the 3,200 higher education institutions in the United States, only 20 percent have female leaders, Murdock notes.

"We still have a long way to go," she says, citing issues she encounters when she meets with other women presidents. "I do think we, as women, bring a different agenda to our universities. We focus on how to make our campuses more human for our students. Diversity and access are huge on our agendas."

From her first day at Antioch, Murdock has had an open-door policy for students. "I want them to drop by and see me," she says.

Strengthening Community Ties

Community involvement is another important quality of Antioch, she notes. That's a challenge for a university located in downtown Seattle.

"There's a beauty and also a drawback to being an urban campus. We have to be more available to students off-site. Even so, it's not enough to deliver programs in different places at different hours.

"To be good citizens, we look to strengthen ties with the community within our programs," she says. A good example is Antioch's lead role in the Center for Native Youth, an early college high school initiative that partners Washington tribes and schools to improve the education of Native American students.

Murdock is determined to make Antioch affordable for underrepresented populations.
She also spent three years lobbying with lawmakers so Antioch undergraduate students would be eligible for state financial aid.

Legislators called it "the Antioch Bill." Senate Bill 5166, which became law in March 2002, made it possible for an undergraduate student who earns less than half the state's median income to receive $3,600 a year in financial aid.

New Programs and Partnerships

Antioch is doing more to partner with agencies and government organizations to create additional certificate programs, according to Murdock. The future, she says, will bring more action programs in the community, including the possibility of partnering with a local organization to establish a mental health clinic.

Other prospects for programs include: a B.A. for graduates of the Native American early college program, a master of fine arts and more doctorate programs.

"Developing more doctorate programs will position us better with other higher-education institutions," Murdock explains.

Has Murdock changed since she first joined Antioch Seattle as president in 1997?

"I've certainly learned to get out of my comfort level and be more of an extrovert," she says with a laugh.

An Unconventional Background

Murdock describes her motivation for becoming a leader in higher education. "I chose education because I believe in the power education has to address the issues of equity and social justice within our society. Education is the great equalizer," she says. She concedes she always pushes boundaries and calls it a necessary part of innovation and change.

Unlike most university leaders, who step into the top job after a career focused exclusively on teaching, research or perhaps think-tank policy-making, Murdock brought a rich palette of experience to Antioch.

Prior to her appointment at Antioch, she served as associate provost for academic programs and planning at Seattle University, assistant dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arizona, and faculty and administrator at Western Wyoming College. Before that, however, she was a Wyoming municipal judge, justice of the peace, rancher, high-school teacher, college volleyball coach, welfare caseworker and even an assistant manager of a Holiday Inn in Carlsbad, N.M. As she ponders that hotel stint with a fleeting wince, she says the job served an important purpose: It motivated her to return to school.
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Toni Murdock was recognized by Women of Color Empowered in May 2004. To read more about this honor, click here.

Click here to have a look at her presentation to the Board of Trustees in February 2006.