William (Bill) C. Murdock                            

Elected to the NOLS Board: for a second term in 2005, first term: 1979 - 1985
Elected to the NOLS Advisory Council: 2002 - 2005
NOLS Graduate: Wind River Wilderness 1970, NOLS Instructor Course: 1971

Bill came to NOLS in the summer of 1970 and participated on a Wind River Wilderness course. At the end of the course he was noted as having a natural ability to learn and teach and was immediately placed into an assistant instructor position. In 1971 he graduated from the NOLS Instructor Course and worked as an instructor and course leader until 1978 when he was an instructor on the Mr. McKinley expedition. .  As an instructor Bill was noted by his students to have a great sense of humor, but more importantly he displayed concern and consideration for each member of the group. In 1973, Bill participated in the New Year’s Grand Teton Climb with Paul Petzoldt and Skip Shoutis.

Bill was a member of the NOLS Board of Trustees from 1979-1985. In 2002 he joined the NOLS Advisory Council. In 2005 Bill was re-elected to the NOLS board. He serves on the Risk Management Committee and the Strategic Initiatives Committee.

Bill was a Morehead Scholar and graduated from the University of North Carolina with an AB in Chemistry and a DDS in Dentistry. He did post-doctoral training at the University of Rochester in New York and at the Pankey Institute in Miami Florida. Since 1981 Bill has lived and worked in Kodiak, Alaska. From 1981 to 1990 Bill directed the Kodiak Area Native Association dental service program for native Alaskans in Kodiak. This program helped redefine standards of care for federally funded programs. He was in private practice in Kodiak from 1990 until 1999.

Bill was recently appointed Clinical Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry at Chapel Hill. He was named the Director of the Comprehensive Care Clinic, a primary clinical teaching program in the school. He has served on numerous boards and committees and received several awards and honors, most recently the Richard M. Hunt Award for Excellence in pre-doctoral teaching from the UNC School of Dentistry-Chapel Hill. But what Bill values most is being asked by the graduating class for an unprecedented three years in a row to be the commencement doctoral hooder (the person who places the doctoral hood over the head of the new doctor). Bill currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Bill’s daughter, Lucy, is a 2004 Semester in Baja graduate.