Enduring Friendship

By Regan Houser
Photography by Keith Boyer

When John Murtha died on February 8, IUP and the region lost a longtime voice of support in Washington, D.C.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s obituary referred to him as “the powerful dean of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation who survived scandal and seismic political shifts to become the longest-serving U.S. House member” from Pennsylvania. But, IUP’s relationship with Murtha was not so complicated: It was one of enduring friendship and mutual respect. He entered the U.S. House of Representatives through a 1974 special election, and his years of service to Congress allowed him to serve his district well. Before and after September 11, 2001, IUP received federal funding to develop several domestic emergency preparedness and training programs, as well as an incident management system for emergency first responders, all of which were eventually housed in IUP’s John P. Murtha Institute for Homeland Security. The institute focuses on education, training, community outreach, and research. One of the original programs evolved, and today IUP offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in Science of Disaster Response, in addition to a nondegree educational program for members of the military.

In 2005, IUP named its Armstrong County facility at Northpointe in Murtha’s honor. In the naming resolution, the university’s Council of Trustees cited his extraordinary support and commitment to IUP and his remarkable record of service to the university, to his Western Pennsylvania constituents, and to citizens of the commonwealth and the nation. The IUP Cares program—an annual educational series for the public—was established in 2007. Murtha lent his name and agreed to be a speaker at the first daylong workshop on prevention and treatment of diabetes—a cause he championed. His connection to IUP was also very personal: His great-grandfather graduated from Indiana State Normal School in 1902 and his mother from Indiana State Teachers College in 1927. Both his son and daughter are IUP alumni, while he himself completed graduate work at the university.