“The word paragon is defined as a person (or thing) regarded as a perfect example of a particular quality; a person (or thing) viewed as a model of excellence. I rarely use this word, yet I’ve used it multiple times to describe Dr. Celestine Murray, a paragon of servant leadership.” 

I have known Dr.  Celes for 25 years and she has consistently demonstrated excellence in all that she does. We worked together for many years in a cell and molecular biology laboratory where we trained undergraduate and graduate (MS and PhD) students on how to apply the scientific method. Dr. Celes approached every task with organization, attention to detail and dedication to see projects through to completion. She helped team members set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound — SMART — goals to help ensure that study objectives were met and research findings were disseminated to the target audiences in a timely manner.

Dr. Murray helped to foster an environment that made everyone in our diverse team feel like they belonged. She met with team members one-on-one to help troubleshoot projects, formulate experimental designs and with interpretation of results. Dr. Celes modeled leadership, hard work and discipline by going the extra mile to achieve goals, even if that meant coming in early and staying late. Not only was she an outstanding scientist, she genuinely cared about everyone in our lab. Indeed, Dr. Celes took a holistic approach to training the next generation of scientists. She takes a holistic approach to everything she does from teaching, research, fundraising, counseling, conflict resolution, outreach and engagement. My leadership skills, teaching, research and services has been enhanced through my interactions with Dr. Celes. Indeed, Dr. Celes is a paragon of servant leadership.

— Dr. Jenora Waterman, PhD

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