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This scholarship supports graduate students working on their dissertation who have extraordinary care-giving and living expenses. Dr. Murray hopes that the impact of the scholarship will be to provide diverse students studying Economics with financial support to ensure that they can take full advantage of the opportunity to complete their PhD without concerns for time.

Carla Tighe Murray is a private consultant who helps government agencies and research centers analyze economic policy issues and costs. Before starting her consulting work in 2019, Dr. Murray had a career in defense economic analysis in the federal government, including award-winning assignments with the Congressional Budget Office and at the Pentagon, where she had unparalleled opportunities to contribute to the shaping of public policy. Prior to joining the government, Dr. Murray taught at Illinois State University and the University of Virginia, and was an analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, part of the CNA Corporation, a federally funded research and development center. At CNA she led studies on the defense industrial base and, as Scientific Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, she played a key analytic role in the realignment of military bases and facilities.

Dr. Murray received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and fondly remembers her professors and fellow students there. She knows how difficult it can be to complete the dissertation. She also knows how challenging and costly it can be to balance a professional workload with care-giving responsibilities. Dr. Murray is now financially able to help those struggling with that balance, and she looks forward to doing so at her alma mater.

“I know there are situations in childcare or eldercare, or sometimes your own health issues or medical expenses, where finding that time, or being able to afford that time or arranging that time can be very challenging,” Murray said. “And my goal is to provide the gift of time through the scholarship fund, so that people can afford to give themselves the hours for focused thought needed for completing a dissertation.” – Carla Tighe Murray