FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 6, 2006
CONTACT: Sarah Lingenfelter, Media Relations 585.567.9559

COLLEGE’S FIFTH PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICE

HOUGHTON, N.Y. — Shirley Mullen assumed the duties of president of Houghton College on Thursday, June 1, 2006. Mullen is the college’s fifth president and succeeds Dr. Daniel Chamberlain, who retired after a 30-year tenure in May 2006.

The Houghton College Board of Trustees voted on May 19, 2006 to name alumna Dr. Shirley Mullen as the fifth president of Houghton College. She is the first woman president in the college’s history.

“The depth of Dr. Mullen’s experience at Westmont, her reputation as a scholar-administrator par excellence and the support we discovered talking with those who know her best convinced us that she is exceptionally qualified to serve as the next president of Houghton College, “said the Rev. Dr. Karl Eastlack, chair of the presidential search committee and vice chair of the college’s Board.

Mullen has spent the last five years serving as provost at Westmont College in California where she began her tenure in 1984 as a history professor. During her tenure she also served as interim academic dean, vice-provost for curriculum and faculty development, and department chair for history, as well as serving on a variety of academic committees. Mullen graduated from Houghton in 1976 with a bachelor’s in history. She then completed a master’s in history from the University of Toronto, a doctorate in history from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Wales. 

Her scholarship pursuits and publications are in the areas of Victorian Britain and the nature of historical study.

At Westmont Mullen was known for her commitment to excellence in teaching in the context of the liberal arts philosophy of education.  She was three times honored with Westmont’s “Teacher of the Year Award” and was deeply involved in developing Westmont’s general education program and their Institute for the Liberal Arts.

Her decision to return to Houghton is connected both to her roots in Houghton’s tradition and to her commitment to the importance of the Christian liberal arts tradition within the landscape of American Higher Education. The goals of Christian liberal arts colleges to educate students for a lifetime of critical and creative thinking, in the context of commitment to community, and undergirded by wide-ranging and substantial moral and spiritual sensitivities, are more relevant than ever in today’s increasingly global and ever-changing world.

“Dr. Mullen has exemplified the scholar-servant ideals of Houghton College throughout the world of academe,” said Board Chair Dr. Ian Lennox. “We look forward to her leadership at Houghton College.”

Mullen became only the sixth female president among the member schools of the Council for Christian College and Universities (CCCU).