Joelle Murchison

Adjunct Faculty

Management &

Entrepreneurship

University administrator, diversity champion and mom of four, Joelle Amy Murchison effectively balances her career, family responsibilities and an active community and volunteer schedule.

A graduate of Brown University, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, Joelle effectively combines her passion and interests in education, inclusion, policy and communications in her work in diversity & inclusion and external partnerships at Connecticut’s flagship Top 20 public research university.

A native of Queens, and raised in Long Island, NY, Joelle takes her professional and leadership queues from her mother, a trailblazer in her own right, who was the first African American woman manager in the Social Security Administration in the 1970s. A graduate of Malverne Public Schools, following her post-secondary pursuits, Joelle began a career in higher education and the non-profit sector before transitioning to corporate America, and then returning to higher education in 2016.

Joelle is a proud life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, Hartford Alumnae Chapter and the National Black MBA Association. Joelle is the recipient of numerous awards including most recently, the Community Service Award from Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc, the Trailblazer Award from the Voices of Women of Color and the Living Waters Award from the Connecticut Conference of the UCC.

In service to the community, Joelle, a member of Faith Congregational Church, serves as a director/trustee on the board of the Amistad Center for Art and Culture (Hartford, CT), Vice Chair of the board of RECenter (formerly The Discovery Center), a racial equity education organization, the Pembroke Center Associates, and College Possible, a national nonprofit focused on college access. She is also a member of Brown University’s Women’s Leadership Council, Corporator for the Village for Families and Children and a member of the Board of Ambassadors of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Joelle previously served 2 terms on the board of directors of both the Morgan State University Foundation and Leadership Greater Hartford and spent 10 years as a diversity trainer with the Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute.

In her spare time, Joelle is building out an inclusion, communication, leadership and coaching practice which she affectionately calls ExecMommy. She lives in Connecticut with her family including her four amazing children who are the wind beneath her wings. At her core, Joelle is passionate about encouraging people to reach their highest potential and creating space to open dialogue to enhance inclusion and understanding.