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Inauguration of Shirley A. Mullen as President of Houghton College
New President to Focus on ‘Fixing Up the World’
HOUGHTON,
N.Y. —“Today the needs of our world are more staggering and
complicated than ever. Our world is fragmented by disciplines, by
professional guilds, by ethnicity, by class, and by religion, and it
is tainted by the lure of materialism and consumerism. Our world is
yearning for beauty and changing faster than we can imagine. Our
planet is ailing as never before, bearing the marks of human
interference. We see the impact here in western New York and around
the world,” said Dr. Shirley Mullen, who was inaugurated as Houghton
College president today.
There are no easy solutions to the challenges we face, but Houghton College is in the business of producing the kind of people—marked by a Houghton education—that will speak to these issues not with words alone, but with their lives.
In her inaugural address, President Mullen noted that “Houghton College students are people prepared to live on a shrinking planet as global citizens and stewards of creation, people who can think and live across boundaries, and people who are educated about issues that cut across academic disciplines. Houghton students have the tools to adapt to changing circumstances over time, as well as place. They know how to learn, how to analyze arguments, how to evaluate information, and how to write with clarity and grace.”
In Buffalo alone Houghton students and alumni have a demonstrated record of being able to make a difference in meeting the great needs of our time. One alumnus has worked with agencies to provide medical care, housing needs and spiritual needs to refugees. Current Houghton students provide weekly tutoring sessions to refugees. In another section of Buffalo, Houghton alumni work with refugees, after they have left the care of the government resettlement centers, to help them access education and language skills. Another alumnus established reading groups and mentoring groups for teenagers in a city block.
“We have a great legacy. We are part of a people called to ‘fix up the world.’ The needs of our world in this time are very great. They are needs that especially match the gifts of Houghton College, a place that cultivates people who embody in their words and in their lives truthfulness, peacemaking and hope, all mediated in love, humility and grace,” said Mullen.
Mullen is only the fifth president of Houghton College in its 124 year history. The inauguration celebration was a culmination of events designed to reflect the inauguration theme, “For Such a Time as This.”
The ceremony included speakers Robert Wennberg, distinguished professor emeritus of philosophy at Westmont College, Daniel Chamberlain, president emeritus at Houghton College, and Earle Wilson, general superintendent of The Wesleyan Church.
Prior to assuming the presidency at Houghton College, Mullen served 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.
More information about the inauguration of Shirley A. Mullen as president of Houghton College can be found at http://www.houghton.edu/inauguration/.
