Elms College's President,
Dr. James H. Mullen Jr.

Elected by the Board of Trustees of Elms College on December 6, 2004, Dr. Mullen assumed leadership of the college July 1, 2005. James H. Mullen Jr., was elected Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville on April 9, 1999 by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and took office August 1. UNC Asheville is the designated liberal arts campus of the University of North Carolina system.

Previously, Dr. Mullen served as senior vice president and director of Project 2002 at Trinity College, a prestigious liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. There, he was responsible for Trinity’s comprehensive master plan for the future and shepherding a $300-million public/private revitalization now transforming the neighborhood surrounding the college.

Dr. Mullen joined Trinity College in 1995 as vice president for strategic planning and community relations, overseeing long-range planning, legislative and community relations, and Trinity’s neighborhood revitalization initiative. In 1996 he was promoted to vice president for student services, where he was responsible for shaping and administering all policies and programs affecting student life at Trinity.

Dr. Mullen was a sought-after lecturer in Trinity College’s Public Policy Department, where his work focused on the American presidency. He holds an appointment as Professor in the UNC Asheville department of Political Science.

A native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, he majored in history at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, graduating magna cum laude in 1980. He earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1984, and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1994.

An avid proponent of community service, Dr. Mullen serves on various boards including the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County; the Asheville Symphony; the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce; WCQS Public Radio; Asheville-Buncombe VISION, Inc.; the North Carolina Arboretum; the Western North Carolina Community Development Association; and the City of Asheville Sustainable Economic Development Task Force. He is also a member of the Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness Committee of the American Council on Education.