ASU remembers
Paige Elliott Mulhollan
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of History - 1978 to 1981
Executive Vice President - 1981 to 1984
Dr. Paige Elliott Mulhollan, 77, passed away on June 30, 2012. Dr. Mulhollan was a respected scholar, a passionate sailor, an avid birder and beloved husband, father and grandfather. Dr. Mulhollan’s academic credentials included a master’s degree in history from the University of Arkansas, a doctorate in history from the University of Texas, and an honorary doctor of letters from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His academic career included administrative positions at Kansas State University (Associate Dean of the Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of History), the University of Oklahoma (Dean of the Arts and Sciences and Professor of History), ASU (Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of History 1978-1981; Executive Vice President 1981-1984; Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer ASU West 1984-1985), and Wright State University (President and Professor of History 1985 – 1994 and President Emeritus 1994 -2012). In June 2012, Wright State University dedicated the Mulhollan Field in the Rinzler Student Sports Complex in honor of his contributions to the University during his tenure as President. His early academic career included an assignment to the University of Texas Oral History Project as a Senior Research Associate. He was responsible for interviewing leading members of the foreign policy community associated with President Lyndon B. Johnson and his administration for the oral history collection of the LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson) Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Other academic associations included over 20 years on the North Central Association, consultant to the National Endowment of the Humanities, chair of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, member of the President’s Commission – National Collegiate Athletics Association, member of the National Advisory Committee to the Air Force ROTC, and member of the Air Force Institute of Technology Foundation. During the course of his sailing career, Dr. Mulhollan sailed the five Great Lakes and made multiple sailing trips in the Caribbean. He served as an official for the 1996 Olympics sailing trials held off the coast of Georgia. As a longtime birder Dr. Mulhollan participated on numerous Audubon field counts in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Ohio, South Carolina and Arkansas. He achieved a birder’s life list containing over 670 species of birds identified during his travels across five continents. Dr. Mulhollan and his wife retired in Hilton Head, South Carolina from 1994 – 2004. While in Hilton Head he held office and was a volunteer in several organizations. In 2005, Dr. Mulhollan and his wife returned to live in Fayetteville. While there he served as the executive director of the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks for two years, and was a board member of a number of organizations. Dr. Mulhollan is survived by his wife Mary Bess, two sons, three granddaughters, a great-granddaughter and a brother.
June 30, 2012