United States Army retired Lieutenant Colonels Dwayne and Alison Murray are Syracuse University alumni, lifelong Orange supporters and, today, colleagues on campus. Their journeys to the Hill began in the 1990s. Dwayne, a first-generation college student, was raised in the Bronx and White Plains, New York. Alison arrived from Severna Park, Maryland, as a nursing major.
Dwayne ran track and field for the Orange and graduated in 1997 with degrees in sociology and information studies. He enlisted in the Army that year as an information systems analyst and was commissioned as a Signal Officer in 1999. Over 25 years, he commanded a tactical communications group at Joint Base Lewis -McChord, served at U.S. Cyber Command and U.S. Army South, and finished as Professor of Military Science and commander of the Bulldog Battalion at Alabama A&M University. He also founded the Bulldog Brigade Military Alumni Association, a nonprofit supporting military alumni.
Alison cheered for the Orange while training as an Army ROTC cadet in Syracuse’s Stalwart Battalion, and graduated from the School of Nursing in 2001 as a newly commissioned Army Nurse Corps officer. Over 20 years, she led where nursing meets technology as Chief Information Officer and Chief Medical Information Officer at Brooke Army Medical Center, clinical informatics at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the rollout of the military’s new electronic health record at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, and finally Assistant Deputy Commander for Nursing at Eisenhower. After her service, she led an enterprise virtual nursing program at Trinity Health.
Dwayne and Alison met while stationed in the Republic of Korea and were married in 2009. Their service took them to Germany, Maryland, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Washington state, with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Honduras, and they retired in 2021.
Today, the Murrays serve on the campus where it all began. Dwayne returned as Deputy Director of the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs, the University’s central hub for veteran and military-connected students. Alison is Assistant Dean for Student Assistance at Hendricks Chapel, where she oversees the Coach Dick MacPherson Food Pantry, the Student Opportunity Fund and the Student Veteran Support Fund.
Dwayne and Alison are the proud parents of three sons: Dwayne II, a 2026 Syracuse graduate, Caleb, and Malachi. Team Murray is Orange through and through.
