Skip to main content

Upcoming Lectures


"Making Room for the Stranger: Refugee Realities, at Home and Abroad"


David Murphy
Executive Director, International Rescue Committee (IRC) - San Diego

Lecture:

April 18, 2016 at 6:00 pm
Great Hall at the International House, Eleanor Roosevelt College
UC San Diego campus

David Murphy

The Lecturer:

David Murphy is Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) San Diego office. From 2004-2015, David was the IRC Country Director in Ethiopia. Prior to that, he worked in corporate enterprise in Denver as a General Manager for an air freight company. While he gained valuable management and organizational leadership skills, he felt uninspired and asked himself, “if money was no object, what would I do”? His answer: “Lead photo safaris in Africa.” David moved to Africa, travelled extensively there, and began this new endeavor. This experience brought him in contact with the humanitarian relief field. David approached the IRC in Nairobi, Kenya and expressed his interest in helping. Recognizing David’s management and leadership skills, IRC sent David to the Republic of Somaliland (North Western Somalia), where he was soon appointed Country Director (and where he met his wife).

After four years in Somaliland, David ran the IRC Kenya office, followed by two years of work in Afghanistan, and then more than a decade in Ethiopia, where his children were born and raised. In 2015, David was appointed as director of IRC San Diego.

The Lecture Series:

The Burke Lectureship has since 1985 sponsored a permanent, major series of free public lectures by distinguished scholars, authors, and leaders from various religious traditions who speak on the religious dimensions of being human and how religion interacts with society. The speakers visit the campus for one or more days of teaching and exchange with faculty, students, and interested members of the community.

Directions and Parking:
  • From I-5 take exit 29 for Genesee Avenue and head west on Genesee Avenue.
  • Turn left on North Torrey Pines Road [third traffic light].
  • Make the second left onto Pangea Drive.
  • Turn left into the Pangea Parking Structure.
    • All visitors must purchase a parking permit from the meter located on the top floor of the parking structure.