Dr. Moran received his doctorate from New York University and teaches courses primarily in political philosophy and American Government. His research on the intersection of political philosophy and natural history has been presented at numerous state, regional, national, and international meetings and has been published in such journals as the The Review of Politics, The Journal of the History of Ideas, and Politics and the Life Sciences. More recently he has begun to explore the politics of popular culture, presenting papers on "The Pogues and Irish Nationalism" (a close study of the music of the Pogues and its role in maintaining a sense of "Irishness" during the Troubles), on "The Politics of Springfield: The Simpsons and Democracy," and on the use of the film Caddyshack as a critique of US policy in the Vietnam War. He also was director of the NJCU/ Jersey Journal poll, a regular survey of Hudson County residents.While he has been teaching in the department as a fulltime faculty member since 1998, he is currently serving as the Associate Dean in the University's William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences.

In his spare time he has founded and maintains The Parting Glass: An Annotated Pogues Lyrics Page , a site named by USA Today as a "Hot Site of the Day" ( 9 April 2003 ).