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It's hard to surprise me because I don't miss much. I live with a house full of men. It
was a total surprise. Less surprised more shocked actually. I didn't catch a couple
clues that something was going on. My students were doing group presentations and it was
towards the last of the semester. All of the sudden he door opened and the cameraman comes
in and your first thought is "What did I do wrong?" And then I saw people congregating
in the back of the auditorium and I wondered what they were doing there. And the students
were I could tell looking at me because they know I am very possessive about my class.
The backdoors are always shut and they could see that I was not happy. And then there was
a parade...my dean, my husband, my children my sister, my brother in law. And then this
woman comes out with balloons and I am trying to figure this out and she starts talking
to me and she says, "Are you Paul Murphy," "Yes I am Paul Murphy." It really was like
a deer in the headlights sort of a feeling. And all the sudden, I'm like, "This is about
me, this is me, they're going to present me with an award!" I normally don't get at a
loss for words but on this occasion I was just, had no idea what to say or do. I felt
very surprised and very happy. One of the reasons I'm here at the University of Kentucky,
my primary purpose is to teach and it's part of my life and something I really enjoy doing.
I teach because I love it. Still after all these years I Can honestly say it's a real
buzz when I get in front and teach. It's so exciting and invigorating to be in front of
the crowd and talking and to be working with them and teaching them about psychology. It
forces me to be alert and try new things, and to feel young, and it's really the best
you can get. I love teaching so much that I'm one of the lucky people who get up in
the morning who say, "Ok, good I'm going to work today!" I feel like when I am teaching
I am doing what I was put on earth to do. The most rewarding part is after you have
a good one to one type of conversation with the student and you see that they get it.
At the end of the semester when I ask the question, "Compare what you know today to
what you knew before the semester" and then when I see on the students' faces that it's
a lot, that they recognize that this is a big, big impact of the semester, that's the
biggest reward. You see that those concepts are clicking along; you see that they're starting
to think independently for themselves. You can write all of the articles in the world,
you can inspire people that way, there's something about really connecting with your students
and having them understand what you're saying. Sometimes you just see it in their eyes and
it's just amazing, because you, it's like watching an infant, you see their mind at
work and you know you had some small part in that. To be able to do that over and over
again, it's a nice thing, because again, it's not going to be the most lucrative thing for
you, everyday people aren't going to give you a pat on the back, but you know you're
having an impact, ok, that we may have on young people and on society in general. The
end point for me is to help in the training of good physicians who are then going to go
out and help human kind, help those people that need physician help. I see myself as
one person of many; one person involved in the process of training these physicians to
go ahead and do humanity a good thing. And it really makes me happy to see the people
my colleagues have taught and I have taught and go out toe the community and practice
what they have been taught. I don't think you need recognition when you get to do what
you're passionate about but it sure is nice. I'm just really happy, I can tell you it's
really a god feeling. This is a special award. This award is based on nominations of students.
I think it's very nice because knowing the two individuals who nominated me, I think
it's very nice to recognize that at least someone in our college and department really
was influenced by some of what I tried to do. This award, when I would see people win
in the past, I always thought it would be a great award to win to know that your students
had nominated you, it just, it really means a lot. I'm just really pleased to get the
award. I've been at UK for 17 years now I did my residency here and I progressed up
to this level because of my love for this university and my love of teaching, the two
things are something that I don't want to go away ever. The award itself is to me the
highest honor I've ever received. This award places you among really good teachers so I
am so happy and proud to be a part of the group. It was very moving to me to win something
like this and to be told about it in front of my class doing the thing that I love the
most.