Dr. Mary Cullinan
Dr. Cullinan assumed the post of Southern Oregon University's eleventh president on August 31, 2006. From 2003 to 2006, Dr. Cullinan served as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Her accomplishments there included designing strategies to improve student recruitment and retention, as well as increasing focus on scholarship, research, and artistic activities.
From 1996 to 2003, Dr. Cullinan served as dean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences at California State University, Stanislaus. There, she oversaw more than twenty departments; redesigned budget processes to improve accountability and reflect enrollment changes; increased external support for faculty; and led the planning efforts to create a new University Honors Program.
She also served in numerous positions from 1981 to 1996 at California State University, Hayward (now CSU East Bay), including director of the Office of Faculty Development and Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching; interim dean of the School of Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences; and chair of the Department of English.
Dr. Cullinan has published four books, including Business Communications: Principles and Processes and American Women Writers: Diverse Voices in Prose Since 1845. She earned her PhD and MA in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her BA (magna cum laude) in Honors English from the University of Pennsylvania.