Mike Hutchison, Arkansas Tech University vice president for advancement; Robin Bowen, ATU president; Bert Mullens, distinguished alumnus of ATU; and Charles Blanchard, chairman of the ATU Board of Trustees.
The Arkansas Tech University Foundation received a $1 million unrestricted pledge from Bert and Annette Mullens of Russellville — one of the single largest gifts in the history of the institution.
Provisions in the trust call for annual gifts to be committed to benefit ATU students through the existing scholarship named for the Mullens.
Son of 1925 ATU graduate Bert Charles Mullens, Bert Marshall Mullens earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from ATU in May 1951.
The younger Mullens graduated just two months after its four-year college program was first accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools.
He was also a member of the Wonder Boys baseball and football teams and went on to a 43-year career in banking that included serving as president for First Security Bank in Searcy, First National Bank of Russellville, First Commercial Bank in Memphis and First City Bank of Memphis.
Since retiring in 1994, Mullens has served as a board member and executive committee member for Regions Bank in Russellville, on the ATU Foundation Board of Directors, and is a past president of the ATU Alumni Association. He helped organize the endowment fund drive in 1969, and he was the its first national chairman.
Annette Mullens earned an associate’s degree in business from ATU in 1948.
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