LIONTalks

This episode was presented by Chaun Young, our intern for season 2!

Dr. Michael J. Murphy was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the grandson and namesake of an impoverished Irish immigrant from County Kerry, Ireland. Born at the midpoint of the Baby Boom generation, he sat in classrooms with 65 other students and a single teacher and graduated from a high school with 3600 other students. As the son of a high school and community college English teacher, he loved literature and majored in philosophy at Holy Cross College, graduating in 1974. He then worked for a time at a residential school in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, which began his long career in human services.

After obtaining a Master’s Degree in Counseling at Springfield College he worked as a protective Services worker and Court Investigator before heading to east Texas to begin his doctoral experience in Commerce. He participated and completed the program in Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling and after graduating in 1983 worked for a brief period at a counseling center in Greenville. He then headed back east and was employed as a psychologist and then as Clinical Director at a mental health center in North Adams, Massachusetts. He completed post-doctoral residencies and was licensed as a psychologist in 1986. During this period many State psychiatric hospitals were closing and Dr. Murphy participated in and completed a training program in forensic psychology through the University of Massachusetts Department of Psychiatry and, over the next twenty years, completed forensic evaluations in criminal and civil cases in the Massachusetts Superior and District courts and secure psychiatric hospitals. During this period he was also designated a Qualified Examiner and assessed sexual offenders and testified in hundreds of civil commitment cases. Most recently, Dr. Murphy was Chief of Mental Health for the Vermont Department of Correction, supervising mental health services throughout the state’s eight correctional facilities. In 2018 he relocated to Cape Cod in Massachusetts and opened a private practice in psychotherapy in Falmouth. Dr. Murphy has three adult children and enjoys cycling as well as hiking and distance swimming in Cape Cod’s bays and shores.

Dr. Murphy recently published a substance abuse-related recovery book, Opioid Odyssey; A Happy Opioid Crisis Book About What Works, now available on Amazon and other booksellers. He previously published a book on fathering, Popsicle Fish: Tales of Fathering and has published hundreds of newspaper columns, for which he was awarded the National Society of Newspaper Columnists Award.

Relius Johnson is currently the Assistant Director of Multicultural Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is an August 2016 undergraduate alumnus of Texas A&M University Commerce, May 2018 graduate school alumni of the University of Central Arkansas and is set to graduate with his PhD in August 2020(August 2020) from Louisiana State University.

Relius’ dissertation looks at Black self-identifying student’s experiences with respect to racial inequalities on-campus and the role of BLM on their respective campus. Additionally, this study will help understand the students’ perspectives of how University administrators have responded to calls for them to devote more attention and resources to address racial inequities on-campus. While at TAMUC Relius was initiated into the Zeta Tau Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, crowned Homecoming King and served as an AAMMP Mentor, the VP for CAB, and an SGA Senator. He was also a member of the Honors College, a Lead Resident Assistant, and Exec Team Member for Orientation.

Relius strives to engage as an agent of positive social change by acknowledging, activating, and self-interrogating the complexities of one’s identities, experiences, privileges, and ideologies. Relius is also a motivational speaker and uses his story to promote the mindset of “Greatness is a STATE of Mind”. Relius’ motto is to use your past to influence a better future. Relius plans to challenge and support the people he interacts with to be the best them that they can be including himself.

Stormy Malone, a 2014 graduate of A&M-Commerce, is a licensed clinical professional counselor and doctoral student in community psychology at Wichita State University. She is in the second year of her program where she works as a research assistant and provides online counseling part-time. While at A&M-Commerce, Stormy was active in Residential Living & Learning, Greek Life, and a Regent's Scholar.

Following graduation, she attended the University of North Dakota where she completed her master’s degree in counseling. As a graduate student, she also worked at a local homeless shelter and co-facilitated a group for domestic violence offenders. Stormy spent 2 years after her graduate program working as a therapist at a non-profit counseling organization. She then chose to return to school and is now working on her Ph.D. Stormy’s main research interest is compassion fatigue. Her work and research interests include diversity, health and wellness, and non-profit community organizations.

Yaw Jason Osei, works as Technology Director for Campbell Independent School District. Osei is originally from London, England, and has resided in America for 8 years. He began his journey in America as a Baylor Student-Athlete, where he studied Film and Digital Media with Computer Science in addition to playing on the Baylor Bears football team. Jason transferred to TAMUC where he would finish his college football career and graduate, with honors, from TAMUC with a degree in Radio and Television with Computer Science. Osei worked as a graduate assistant at TAMUC and earned his Master of Science.

In addition to Technology Director, Osei is establishing a career in Martial Arts and professional wrestling. Osei currently is an MMA Fighter, with a winning record, and in 2018, he was invited to tryout with World Wrestling Entertainment in Orlando, Florida. Osei believes a lot of his success was gained from positive connections and from a positive mindset towards his goals.

His favorite quote is:  “There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking” – Brian Tracy

Dr. Greg Shirley, II serves as the Associate Director for Employer Relations, Technology, & Operations at the Texas Woman’s University Career Connections Center. Dr. Shirley possesses 12 years of relevant experience in higher education, specifically in student affairs and career development. He received his Doctor of Education in Educational Administration, Emphasis in Curriculum, Supervision, and Instruction as well as his Master of Science in Higher Education Administration from Texas A&M University-Commerce, and his Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Paul Quinn College. 

Greg’s Top 5 StrengthsFinder results are WOO, Input, Connectedness, Positivity, and Communication, so making connections and building relationships are nothing new to him. Greg’s favorite quote is from Charles Swindoll, and it reads, “We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Robyn Carr started her academic career at Texas A&M University-Commerce in the fall of 2014 and graduated in the summer of 2017. During her time at Texas A&M University-Commerce, she was an active member of the student body holding various leadership and student worker roles throughout the university. Carr was President of Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated, Secretary of the Golden Leo's, Student Affairs Senator of the Student Government Association, a Resident Assistant, RSC team member, a Procurement Secretary and an Orientation Assistant. 

Robyn is an alumni of Texas A&M University-Commerce. Her experiences at the university has prepared her and equipped her for the postgraduate world. Currently, she is in human resources for a fortune 500 company and the insurance industry outside of her full time employment. She is also an owner of an art and home décor business.   

Albeni Alston was born and raised in Dallas and is the daughter of a Marine and a school teacher, who believes that servant leadership runs deep in her blood. In May 2014, she graduated from Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Dallas and hit the ground running upon arrival at A&M-Commerce in the fall of 2014.

In 2018, Albeni graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Sociology and is now serving a second service term with AmeriCorps, Reading Partners, as a site coordinator, where she helps mobilizes communities to provide students in under-resourced schools with proven individualized reading support they need to read on grade level.

Albeni is also currently working on an alternative teaching certification and hopes that her passion for reading and education will spark a flame in the hearts of her students to strive for excellence not only in their education but within their communities as well. Albeni attributes a lot of her success to her mentors on campus, keeping her grounded and presenting her with opportunities to grow and challenge herself.  

Bishop is a Learning Delivery Program Manager for Toyota Financial Services.  He leads a team tasked with the design and delivery of training for auto finance lines of business. Training enhances employee mobility finance skills in the areas of financial technology, data, analytics, and information security. Bishop has a Bachelor's in Construction Science and a Masters in Industrial Technology from Texas A&M at Commerce.

"It doesn't matter how long it takes you. Do not give up on your dreams. Never."

Mariam Adeyemi is a certified Data Analyst (IBM certified) She has over 8 years of corporate experience in Sales, Marketing, Supply chain, Finance, and product development. She got her master's degree in Business Analytics from Texas A&M University-Commerce and a bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of Jos, Nigeria. She currently works in a non-profit organization as a Financial analyst in the Dallas metroplex area. She is the founder of Techavilly, an online STEM hub established to mentor, coach, and develop young minorities who want to develop themselves in STEM and help them achieve their career dream. She currently teaches 2 STEM courses on Udemy with over 110 students enrolled.

Her passion is to give back as much as she can.

Everybody has their own path, everybody has their own timeline.

Veronica Chevalier grew up outside of Chicago in Northwest Indiana and graduated high school in 2013. She attended Loyola University Chicago and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in both Marketing and Sport Management. Veronica moved to Texas in July after her senior year of college after having accepted a Graduate Assistant position at TAMUC.

While at TAMUC, Veronica served Campus Recreation as the Graduate Assistant for Aquatics and Risk Management and then as the Graduate Intern for Fraternity and Sorority Life. In March of 2019, Veronica moved to South Bend, Indiana, and started as the Aquatics Program and Risk Management Coordinator with the University of Notre Dame RecSports. She returned to Commerce to graduate with her Masters of Science in Higher Education Administration in May of 2019.

Cesar Is Living the Dream!

Cesar Quezada is a Coordinator for the Multicultural Center at the University of North Texas and a student in the Masters of Education Program. He is aFirst-Generation college student and DACA Recipient, a Dreamer who graduated from Texas A&M University- Commerce in May of 2019. During his time in Commerce, he was involved in student diversity efforts, among them as the President and a Coordinator for the Nationally Recognized student mentorship endeavor, the Latino American Mentorship Program (LAMP). As the President of LAMP he was able to receive peer and leadership recognition at the Local, Statewide and National level. Excelencia in Education named the Mentorship Program, a Program to Watch in 2018 and nominated for the Example of Excelencia Award in 2019. The LAMP program was composed mostly of First Generation Students, which gave him the knowledge of being able to work with a diverse student body and university leadership.

It's Always a Great Day to be a Lion

Vincent is a 2016 graduate of the social work program at A&M-Commerce. Vincent is a first-generation college student so taking advantage of what was offered was the first priority for him. Upon his arrival in 2012, he immediately got involved across campus and left a lasting impact on the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce. Vincent believes with his whole heart that it is ALWAYS a great day to be a lion.