By MATT HENDERSON
Contributing Writer
Filmmaker, teacher, father, husband, college president, and Saint Rose alumnus are just a few of the titles one could use to describe Michael Brophy.
The 6th president of Marymount College, located in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, Brophy was appointed to the position in 2006,  a  position that he says comes with an awesome responsibility. As Marymount’s president, Brophy is responsible for around 1,000 students and 200 faculty and staff. He spends a great deal of time working closely with students, donors, and alumni who “love the college and have the college’s best interests at heart,” said Brophy.
He works to maintain a high quality student experience academically, socially and financially. This is something that he feels gives him constant affirmation. He is responsible for ensuring that the faculty and staff have adequate resources, so that they are better able to provide the students with the necessary tools for their college experience.
His experience as a student at Saint Rose reminds him that as an administrator, faculty should be deeply committed to the continued success of their students — an ideal he learned while he was a student at Saint Rose.
“Under Dr. Brophy’s leadership, Marymount College has made the transformation from a two-year college with declining enrollments to a four-year college that has seen 70% enrollment growth in the past two years, along with a reinvigorated culture of innovation and outreach,” said Ariane Schauer, the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Marymount College.
Born in New York City, Brophy’s family moved to Greenville, NY when he was 10 years old. He attended Greenville High School, located just under 30 miles south of Albany.
Graduating from high school early, in 1980, Brophy came to the Saint Rose campus as an eager 16-year-old on a piano scholarship. Brophy said that being so young on a college campus, although his age wasn’t really a factor academically, socially it took a couple years to be truly comfortable.
“Saint Rose is a great school and it was a great experience,” he said. “It was great, that whole decade as a student at The College.”
Brophy’s undergraduate career was a busy time. He majored in English and music, was involved in student government as the treasurer, and played in a “ton” of piano concerts and as an accompanist in other performances. He was also an athlete, and played in both pick-up basketball and volleyball games. Despite his numerous activities and responsibilities, he also found time to work in the admissions office.
Earning his bachelor’s degree in music in 1984, Brophy stayed at Saint Rose to get his master’s degree in English, which he completed in 1990.
After completing his master’s degree, Brophy became an admissions counselor for Saint Rose. He stayed on for three years. “I loved every single moment of it,” said Brophy.
The next stop in his career was a five-year stint at the Sage Colleges. Brophy‘s rise was a fast one, becoming the Director of Admissions at Sage Junior College of Albany. “It was a really exciting time to mature, I was given a lot of responsibility,” he said. In 1990, Brophy met a woman named Tara, who would eventually become his wife. The pair met through mutual friends at Crossgates Mall, where she worked. They married in 1993. The couple have three children now, Sullivan, 15, Myles, 13, and Ella, 7.
Brophy spent time in the ‘90s working at both SUNY Canton and Long Island University, where he received a “quick succession of promotions.” At Canton, he served as the Dean of Enrollment Management, and as the Dean of Students at Long Island University, where he would also earn his first terminal degree, a Master of Fine Arts in writing. That degree allowed him to get into teaching.
After receiving his M.F.A., Brophy put music to the side for a time, making film a central part of his life. One film, a documentary called “Night for Day: The XP Story,” details the lives of families dealing with the effects of a devastating disease called Xeroderma Pigmentosum.
XP, as it’s more commonly known, is a disease that forces its victims to avoid the ultraviolet rays of sunlight because of a severe risk of patients developing cancer as young children.
The documentary follows families in Cuba, England, Peru, Israel, Australia, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, and the United States, in their struggle to deal with the devastating effects of the disease. “My interest was more in familial dynamics and coping mechanisms,” said Brophy. “How do you raise a son or daughter who cannot be raised in sunlight?”
The film was rewarding to Brophy because he saw how the families of XP patients came together to support each other. Both of his sons were born before the film was made, and in making the film, Brophy realized how diseases like XP are very much in God’s hands. “Like many men, I was blissfully unaware of what can go wrong with the health of my children,” he said in a moment of reflection.
While his films never went further than the festival circuit, they put him in a good place to teach film. Brophy eventually gained tenure as a film professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Already toting an impressive array of degrees, Brophy attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison as a doctoral candidate. By day, Brophy worked at a branch campus of the university, Baraboo/Sauk County, an hour north of Madison. Here, he served as Dean and Campus Executive Officer. By night, he drove to Madison to study leadership. He currently holds a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis.
“It was a small enough program where the faculty taught you directly,” he said. “Whenever you needed to be in touch with them, they were in touch with you.”
In 2003, Brophy was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach and study in Bulgaria. He described his experience as “eye-opening,” because prior to moving there, it was difficult to understand the effect communism had on those countries. “It was very interesting to see, essentially, the very dark side of communism,” said Brophy.
Today, as President of Marymount College, Brophy still carries fond memories of Saint Rose. Those of a faculty that was, and still is, deeply committed to supplying its students with a high quality education and an opportunity to grow. He believes students should study what they love, because that will take them the farthest. He also believes students should be open to exploration and change, because “passions can change or intensify based on new experiences or new learning.”
