The Dennis F. and Ellin C. Murphy Irish Studies Library Endowment was established in 2002. Dennis (’71) retired as president of Kiewit Engineering, which provides engineering, estimating, and quality assurance service all Kiewit construction operations. At Notre Dame he serves as a member of the College of Engineering Advisory Council and received the Engineering Honor Award from the College as well. His wife, Ellin, is a former educator with St. Robert Bellarmine School in Omaha, Nebraska. They are parents of three children: Kathleen Murphy McMahon (’96), Kevin (’01), and Dennis.

The Murphy Endowment has helped provide for the acquisition of resources in northern vernacular literature, which is in keeping with the goals of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant aimed at bringing the collection to an unprecedented level of excellence. It also assisted with the acquisition of the Loeber Collection of Irish fiction. These materials were central to the University’s Irish Fiction Initiative, which is to make the collection at the Libraries the premier world destination for scholarship on the topic.

Members of the Badin Guild, Dennis and Ellin have also supported the Dennis and Ellin Murphy Endowment for Excellence Supporting Engineering Study, the Katie Murphy McMahon Endowment for Excellence in Russian and East-Central European Studies, and Stinson-Remick Hall of Engineering.