Politicians
Instructor, Grad Find Political Success
A Communication Department instructor and a graduate have been elected to political office in Western new York. Mary Travers Murphy, a current part-time speech instructor, is the new Orchard Park town supervisor. Byron Brown, a journalism graduate, has been sworn in as mayor of Buffalo. Both are Democrats.
Brown was a dual major in journalism and political science when he graduated from Buffalo State in 1983. He is a past president of the Buffalo State Alumni Council and one of the inaugural recipients in 2002 of the college's Young Alumnus Award.
He served on the staff of Buffalo Common Council, the Erie County executive office, and the New York State legislative assembly. He was elected to the Buffalo Common Council and in 2001 became the first African American outside the New York City metropolitan area to be elected to the State Senate, representing the 60th District of Western New York. In January 2006 he was sworn in as mayor of Buffalo.
Murphy took leave of her teaching assignment with the Communication Department to campaign for the Orchard Park position. She is a 19-year reporter with WKBW TV-7 and the recipient of several awards in broadcast journalism for reporting, investigative journalism, and consumer advocacy. She also is a graduate student at Christ the King Seminary in Orchard Park, pursuing a master's degree in theology.
(Winter-Spring 2006)