Andrew Murray retires as director of Baker Institute.

Andrew Murray is retiring as director of the Elizabeth Evans Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. He also serves at Juniata as Elizabeth Evans Baker Professor of peace and conflict studies.

Murray came to Juniata in 1971 as a faculty member in the religion department and campus minister after serving Church of the Brethren pastorates in Virginia and Oregon. He was named college chaplain in 1986, a post he held until 1991.

He has been a leader in the international development of the field of peace studies. He founded the Juniata Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies in 1985, and has directed Juniata's peace and conflict studies program since 1977. He has led the Baker Institute, named for the John C. and Elizabeth Evans Baker family in 1986, since its beginning. Murray has consulted on curriculum and administrative issues in peace studies at more than 20 colleges and universities across the country. In 1988, he helped found the Peace Studies Association, and has been elected twice as chair of its board of directors.

In 1990, he was appointed to the United Nations/International Association of University Presidents Commission on Arms Control Education. As a member of the Commission, he began the International Seminar on Arms Control and Disarmament, sponsored jointly by Juniata College and the UN Center for Disarmament Affairs. The seminar attracted more than 50 professors from universities in Mexico, Central America, western and southern Africa, the Middle East and south Asia to Juniata's campus for arms control and disarmament curriculum training. He also served as a special consultant for a UN peace-building initiative in West Africa and worked with the government of Mali to develop a moratorium on small arms manufacture, import and export, and a national policy on civilian/military relations.

He holds degrees from Bridgewater (Va.) College and Bethany Theological Seminary. Juniata has honored him with the 1991 Beachley Award for Distinguished Academic Service. He also received honorary degrees from Manchester College and Bridgewater. Along with his wife, Terry, Murray also has maintained a music career and is well known in the Church of the Brethren for their albums including "Summertime Children" and "Goodbye, Still Night." The couple have performed more than 300 concerts in 20 states and Canada.

Source: 5/07/2008 Newsline Extra