Dr. Harvey L. McMurray, Professor of Criminal Justice, Department of Criminal Justice at North
Carolina Central University (NCCU), retired January 1, 2025. Dr. McMurray’s thirty-seven
years at NCCU included service as department chair (2004-2015 and 2021-2022). During 1998-
1999, Dr. McMurray served as a Senior Fulbright Scholar assigned to Makerere University,
Kampala, Uganda. During this period, he was a Senior Advisor to UNAFRI (United Nations
African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders). Dr. McMurray has
served in numerous positions to include the following: Chair, Faculty Senate (2013-2015);
Secretary, Faculty Senate (2017-2018); Chair, Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure for the
department and college; and member and chair of many committees in the Department of
Criminal Justice, college, and NCCU. In 2004, Dr. McMurray received the Board of Governors
Award for Teaching Excellence, the highest award for teaching in the University of North
Carolina System.
Dr. McMurray served as the Executive Director for the Institute for Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which he founded in 2005. He is a past Principal Investigator for a cooperative grant with the Rural Development Preparedness Consortium, US Department of Homeland Security, which has brought in more than $2 million. He co-founded the HBCU SIG (Special Interest Group) with FEMA’s Higher Education Program. Dr. McMurray has been invited to several homeland security and emergency management (FEMA) related meetings to include at the White House Complex, the Center for Domestic Preparedness, the Emergency Management Institute, and numerous others.
Professionally, he served since 2008 as a member of the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy
Commission (resigned due to retirement); North Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation
Committee, Executive Board, resigned; Academic Review Committee, Academy of Criminal
Justice Sciences; HBCU Special Interest Group, FEMA Higher Education Program; Board
Member, Urban Ministries of Durham; Commissioner, Durham Human Relations Commission,
among others.
Dr. McMurray was the lead at NCCU in establishing a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Wilmette Institute to provide an interdisciplinary framework to collaborate on matters
involving students, faculty, and the neighborhoods near NCCU to become protagonists for social
transformation in addressing issues such as social justice, race, and community health. Harvey is
a member of the Bahá’í Faith and states that his commitment to serve humanity is centered on
the oneness of humanity and that his north star is the following quote, “Noble have I created
thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.” (Bahá’u’lláh,
The Arabic Hidden Words #22)
