Entrepreneurship Minor Team | McCombs Entrepreneurship Minor

THE TEAM

Entrepreneurship Minor

Get to know the Minor Team

Faculty

Dr. Melissa Murphy is the Director of the Minor. She is also a Lecturer in the Minor and Summer Entrepreneurship Academy.

Mike Peterson is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Minor and Summer Entrepreneurship Academy.

Dr. Miha Vindis is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Minor and Summer Entrepreneurship Academy.

Rodney Northern is a Lecturer in the Minor.

Staff

Olwyn Moxhay is the Administrative Associate.

Reema Attyeh is the Senior Academic Program Coordinator.

Senia Borden is the Student Program Coordinator.

Student Workers

Dr. Melissa Murphy is the Founder and Chief Communication Coach of The Pitch Academy and award-winning teacher and scholar at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Murphy currently teaches business communication, negotiation, and entrepreneurship in the nationally-ranked McCombs School of Business. She has taught professional communication skills, nonverbal communication and organizational communication for the Moody College of Communication and has also held academic teaching positions in marketing for the Master of Science in Technology Commercialization program as well as teaches numerous workshops for Texas Executive Education.

She has published work on web conferencing in the classroom, international crisis communication, interviewing, communication pedagogy, health communication, and professionalism for students and recent college graduates. Her latest work investigates the role of storytelling in raising capital in rewards and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

She coaches students, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and professionals of all ages to pitch themselves and their ideas in meetings, presentations, and interviews. Over the last decade, she has worked and provided training for several non-profit organizations and companies in fields such as technology, education, consumer products, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, finance, insurance, and government. During her spare time, she watches Kickstarter videos and is a community ‘Barracuda’ mentor for young entrepreneurs at Moolah University in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Murphy holds a BA degree in Corporate Communication from The University of Cincinnati, and an MA and PhD in Organizational Communication and Technology from The University of Texas at Austin, where she received multiple fellowships including the High North Fellowship at the Bodø Graduate School of Business at The University of Nordland. Prior to her appointment at The University of Texas at Austin, she lived in Los Angeles and worked in the music industry holding positions in digital sales and marketing.

Recognized by the Speech Communication Association as the Most Outstanding Graduate Teacher in the state of Texas, she was awarded Assistant Instructor of the Year by the department of communication studies during her time at the Moody College of Communication. She is a three-time award winner of the Faculty Honor Roll Award at the Red McCombs School of Business, which recognizes faculty members for their success in the classroom. She is also a two-time recipient of the Amplify Award for Diversity and Inclusion which recognizes faculty who foster highly-inclusive classrooms and help all students participate and improve learning outcomes.

In 2019, she was selected as one of three professors on campus to teach in the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (WEL) Institute where she has launched the first-ever consumer products practicum. In 2020, she helped launched the first chapter in Texas of The Women’s Network at The University of Texas dedicated to helping women succeed professionally.