Collection Title: Murray State 100th Anniversary Oral History Project
Series Number: MSU002
Interviewee: Moore, Ray P.
Interviewer: Bolin, Wesley S.
Date interviewed: 2013 April 10
Processed by: O’Daniel, Hannah
Date processed: 2014 May 1
Description: 1 sound disc (59 minutes)
Abstract: Ray P. Moore began the interview by discussing his undergraduate education at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. He mentioned his early career directing church choirs and his stint in the United States Army in Europe. He spoke of how he commuted from Paducah to Murray, Kentucky to complete his Master in Administration. He described his time at the University of Illinois at Carbondale and recalled how he was hired as an associate professor at Murray State after he received his doctorate. He discussed the changes that came about as a result of the shift from Murray State’s status as a college to a university. Moore spoke of how the Vietnam War impacted his early years as a professor at Murray State and the antiwar demonstrations on campus. He discussed the general process of professor’s earning tenure and how he and a number of other professors under President Sparks were granted tenure by the Board of Regents on the basis that they had all been employed for at least three years. He discussed the more controversial approach to tenure during President Curris’s term and the legal battles that ensued. He also recalled the debate whether professors should unionize and the controversy over presenting unpopular or alternate ideas in the classroom. He described the surge in enrollment in the 1980s and his experiences in Murray during the 2009 Ice Storm. He concludes the interview with his views on education methods, the government’s role in education and standardized testing.
Biographical / Historical note: Ray P. Moore was born in 1929. He attended Georgetown College for his undergraduate education. After graduation, he directed choral music at local churches. He was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean Conflict and was stationed in Europe as a sergeant and personnel specialist. He attended Murray State College for a Master degree in education administration and attained a Phd at the University of Illinois at Carbondale in 1966. He was hired by Murray State University in the summer of 1967 as a part-time instructor in the Secondary and Elementary Education Department to teach graduate courses.
General information: No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Moore, Ray P., 1929-
Murray State University – History.
Murray (Ky.) – History.
Georgetown College (Georgetown, Ky.)
Southern Illinois University (Carbondale, Ill.)
