Mary Cullinan is the current president of Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon

Ashland, Oregon

Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...

. She succeeded Elisabeth Zinser

Elisabeth Zinser

Elisabeth Ann Zinser is a retired university president, most recently at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon. Previously she was the chancellor of the Lexington campus of the University of Kentucky , and the first female president of the University of Idaho, serving from 1989-1995 in...

 as president of SOU in 2006.

Early life and education

Dr. Mary Cullinan grew up in Washington D.C. Her father was Assistant Postmaster-General

Assistant Postmaster-General

The Assistant Postmaster General is a defunct junior ministerial position in the United Kingdom Government.The title of Postmaster General was abolished under the Post Office Act 1969...

 under President Dwight Eisenhower and later a speech writer for various senators, congressmen and other influential politicians-including Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Her early passion for storytelling foreshadowed her future career in English. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 in 1972. Dr. Cullinan obtained her master's degree in 1973 and her Ph.D. in 1978 in English literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Administrative experience

After becoming a tenured professor of English at California State University-Hayward (now CSU East Bay) in 1991, she received her first administrative position as chair of the department of English at the University (1991–1992; 1993–1994). At California State University-Hayward, she was also interim dean of the School of Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences (1992–1993) and Director of the Office of Faculty Development and Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (1994–1996).

Later, she served as Dean of the College of Arts, Letters and Sciences and English professor at California State University, Stanislaus

California State University, Stanislaus

California State University, Stanislaus, also known as Cal State Stanislaus or simply Stan State is a campus in the California State University system which was established in 1957 in Turlock, California. It is also the only campus in the CSU system to offer a bachelor's degree in cognitive studies...

 from 1996 to 2003. She served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs as well as Professor of English at Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University is a public university located in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. Founded as a teachers' college in 1923, the university was named after one of Texas' founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of another Texas founding...

from 2003-2006. In 2006 Mary Cullinan became President of Southern Oregon University. Her blog is at http://news.sou.edu/president/.

Awards

In 2011 Cullinan received from the CASE District VIII Leader of the Year from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Higher Education.

Books

• "Susan Ferrier", G. K. Hall & Co. (1984)
• "Business English for Industry and the Professions", Dryden Press (1986)
• "American Women Writers: Diverse Voices in Prose Since 1845" [ed. with E. Barrett]. St. Martin's Press (1992)
• "Business Communication: Principles and Processes", second edition. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1993). First edition: Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1988)