When Dean Amanda Murdie was initially dropped off to pursue her undergraduate degree at Kansas State University, she was advised to find a husband, get a degree in, say, elementary education, and settle somewhere like her own small hometown after graduation.
What she found instead kicked off a love for higher education and the liberal arts — all made possible by the Pell Grant she received as an undergraduate student. Now the dean of Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, her journey as a rural, limited-income student balancing duties as a young wife and mother informs a leadership style focused on human-first management and the power of interdisciplinary learning.
Humble Beginnings
Murdie was raised 15 miles away from a town of 800 in central Kansas. Having attended school with a class of approximately 20 other students, Murdie recalls a loving environment that also maintained a strict social structure.
“In a small town, everything is about social structure. Part of why I was attracted to international affairs was the idea of hierarchy and of studying people. I grew up in a religious household in a town where there is value placed on who your family is and who your family knows. It taught me to think like a social scientist.”
Amanda Murdie
Murdie’s family valued education and ensured she was prepared to go to college, but in some ways, college was a means to maintain social strata. And Murdie did partially heed the advice she received when she was dropped off — she married her husband, Avery, at 19, and was pregnant with her first child at 21.
However, Murdie also found herself fascinated by social sciences and the power of social movements. Bit by bit, she realized education could be an engine to learn more about the topics that captivated her.
“It was kind of like, at some point, the lenses were wiped off, and I could actually see the real world,” said Murdie.
The Power of the Pell Grant
Murdie and her husband struggled financially throughout their undergraduate degrees, working hard to keep their heads above water and support their first daughter. Pell Grant funds were sometimes the only reason the heat stayed on when meager earnings from their jobs didn’t quite tide over the family.
“For my husband and for me, the Pell Grant was absolutely essential to have a roof over our heads. We also used food stamps when the kids were small. That assistance allowed us to be where we are today. There was, and still is, a lot of stigma around that, but we knew we could do more and be more if we got through that stage in our life.”
Amanda Murdie
Indeed, Murdie knew graduate school was the best path forward to meaningfully support her family in the future. She began her master’s degree shortly after graduating with her bachelor’s degree in political science in 2003. Though it meant a continuing financial struggle in the short term, Murdie was betting on herself to achieve more.
Murdie’s steadfast determination during this time was even distilled into her daughters’ names — Tenacity and Serenity, two guiding mantras that helped her complete her master’s degree in 2005 and then continue to Emory University for her Ph.D., which she completed in 2009.
How Adversity Informs Strong Leadership
Murdie’s experiences have been critical to her approach to leadership. One particularly contemplative experience for Murdie involved the time she was pregnant with her younger daughter, Serenity, as a graduate teaching assistant. When her supervisor found out, she was immediately taken to the office of the department head.
Despite Murdie’s explanation that she would have Serenity during the semester break and then return to her position, the two men began discussing what they were going to do if and when she did not return to work.
“Instead of a conversation about how to protect me, it was a discussion of how to protect the work I was doing, and suddenly I was worried I would not be offered my assistantship for the spring,” she said. “It made me realize that we need good administrators in this world. It would have made a huge difference to have someone in that room who said giving birth is just part of life and asked how they could support me getting back to the classroom.”
Today, Murdie tries to be that someone in the room. Though she loves research, she also finds immense value in being a leader and finding solutions to tough administrative issues.
“Being someone who sees you as a whole person has always been really important to me. What I really do is problem-solve for my colleagues, and then I get to cheerlead their great work. There is so much joy in what we’re doing in liberal arts.”
Amanda Murdie
And joy is what Murdie hopes to show more of during her tenure as dean. Part of that means showcasing the value of liberal arts on the cutting edge of technology — what she calls the Ivan Allen Advantage — in research, student success, and return on investment.
As Murdie looks forward to 2026, she hopes her word of the year will be “moxie” as she leads the college forward.
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