Richard Murdocco, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, was recently recognized for his contributions to sustainability and environmental education at the Long Island Herald’s GreenBIZ Awards. The event, organized by Herald Community Newspapers, honored individuals who have influenced business practices with a global impact.
Murdocco is a faculty member in both the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook. He was one of three honorees in the Education category. The Herald highlighted his efforts to promote renewable energy, responsible land use, and environmental policy, as well as his work inspiring future leaders to understand the connection between economic development and environmental protection.
Reflecting on his early interest in environmental issues, Murdocco said: “That came from studying the interrelationship between land use and water quality. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on land use and development on Long Island, and it really opened my eyes to how what we do on top impacts the water we drink on the bottom.”
After completing degrees in political science and urban studies at Fordham University, Murdocco pursued a Master’s in Public Policy at Stony Brook. He studied under Lee Koppelman, a significant figure in Long Island’s sustainability movement. “Ever since then I’ve been arguing for the balance between development and growth and the need for environmental preservation,” he said. “His work was formative in shaping my own.”
Murdocco has lived in the Stony Brook area all his life. His father has taught at Stony Brook’s Renaissance School of Medicine since the 1980s. “When I was younger, I would sit in and watch him teach, and now I’m teaching,” he said. “It still feels kind of weird.”
Since joining Stony Brook as an instructor in 2016, Murdocco has focused on public policy graduate programs and developing online courses related to land use development or environmental policy. He is currently attending Touro Law Center to earn a Juris Doctor degree with plans to move into real estate law. “My plan is to eventually get into real estate law,” he said. “I should have done this 20 years ago, but as my wife says, there’s a reason why I didn’t. Now I’m surrounded by 22-year-olds and it’s humbling. You reach a point where your career becomes an echo chamber but it’s different when you’re in the classroom. Sometimes it’s refreshing to be smacked down a little bit.”
Addressing current challenges facing environmental policy, Murdocco tells his students: “I tell my students all the time, the pendulum swings both ways on the politics side… But I remind them that elections still happen. The system has persevered and for 250 years we’ve had slow-moving democracy… Between the market correcting and legislative elective pressure, that’s how you get movement.”
Murdocco expressed gratitude for teaching motivated students: “A lot of people say that, but it is true,” he said. “I’ve had students go on to work for the FDIC. Others are legislative aides. Some of them run for office. And I’ve been teaching long enough now that I meet people in meetings and they say ‘hey, you taught me!’”
Looking forward, Murdocco hopes to continue inspiring students: “I sincerely hope to give students the tools they need to effectuate good policy change and leverage the law to help people make more informed decisions,” he said. “That could be municipalities, that could be real estate developers… I try to achieve the balance that I learned about all those years ago in my own classes at Stony Brook. It’s my hope that all those lessons come to fruition. It’s cyclical. Today I’m talking about trends as a teacher that I spoke about when I was a student.”
