Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Jaime Murphy

Interview by Hailey Pruitt 

Jaime Murphy, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry

Honors College Senior Faculty Fellow

Chemistry courses she teaches: Inorganic Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, College Chemistry I and II, Current Chemical Research, Research Methods, Research

Honors courses she teaches: The Physical World, Honors Capstone Preparation, Honors Capstone

Murphy attended Harding from 1997-99 and transferred to the University of South Carolina-Aiken when her husband, Philip, started law school at USC. There she completed a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 2001 and later earned a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Clemson University in 2018. 

How long have you worked at Harding? Seven years now. I still find myself saying that I have "only" worked at Harding for seven years, but it is starting to feel like "only" is not appropriate.

What’s your favorite thing about working here? The community that exists on and around campus. I love getting to know students, faculty and staff each year, and I love how the relationships are intertwined in life. As a science professor, I also love that I get to weave my faith into my science expertise. Coming from a secular background, I hope that my Christ-like attitude always has shown through in my teaching. However, at Harding I get to talk openly about the molecular complexity of creation, and I get to give all the glory to God. 

What’s your go-to coffee order? Hot white chocolate latte in the morning and a dirty chai in the afternoon.

What did you read/watch/listen to over the summer? I got on a C.S. Lewis kick and read The Great Divorce, The Abolition of Man, and Mere Christianity. I listened to John Green's Everything is Tuberculosis. I also read  The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, which my kids have been trying to get me to read for years. 

What’s your favorite scripture? Currently, my favorite scripture is Philippians 1:9-11: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

What hobbies/interests do you enjoy outside of work? For the last five years or so, I have coached club volleyball for Fearsome Volleyball Club. I usually help coach a junior high team and love seeing the development of the girls over time. It is also rewarding to get to coach alongside the Harding volleyball players. This is one of those instances of relationships being intertwined. I have been the assistant coach on teams where my students were the head coach. I also enjoy traveling. My husband's hobby is planning off-the-beaten-path vacations, and my hobby is enjoying a new culture on each trip!

What’s something your students might be surprised to learn about you? My family lived in American Samoa as vocational missionaries for four years when my children were young. During that time, I got the opportunity to play on the American Samoan National Softball Team. We competed in the South Pacific Games, a mini-Olympics for South Pacific nations, and won the silver medal. 

What advice do you have for new faculty or students in their first year at Harding? My family has moved a fair amount, so my advice is to be patient with making friends. You have to show up to events — even when it is uncomfortable — to forge new relationships. And sometimes, that uncomfortable-in-this-space, who-are-my-people? feeling lasts longer than we would like. At some point it will feel like everyone else has found their place but you have not. That inner dialogue is usually incorrect. You are only seeing the surface of other people, and most of us struggle with belonging for a long time. 

If you weren’t in your current job, what would you be doing instead? This is a hard question. I could see myself teaching at a high school again and coaching volleyball. I could see myself in data science. I enjoy analyzing and finding trends in data. With a job like that I could work remotely, which would open up opportunities for living all over the world. 

On what topic could you give a Ted Talk right now with no preparation? The miracle of water. If I asked any person who had high school chemistry to draw the structure of water, many could still do it correctly (as bent, not linear). What many people don't realize is how critical this one detail of molecular structure is to life existing at all. 

What building on campus could you probably navigate blindfolded? Definitely the Pryor-England Science Center. When I came back to Harding to interview in 2017 after not being in the building for more than 15 years, I walked in and immediately thought, "it still smells the same." Most people don't love the smell of a chemistry/lab building, but to me, it is home!