Robert J. McMullen

Robert Johnston McMullen (May 18, 1884 – October 26, 1962) was an American pastor, missionary, and academic administrator. A graduate of Central University of Kentucky, now Centre College, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, he was licensed to preach in April 1909 and soon left the country to begin a period of more than thirty years in Hangzhou, China. He worked as a Presbyterian missionary from 1911 to 1932 before joining the faculty of Hangchow Christian College and eventually becoming the school's president for four years. After a seven-month detainment in a Japanese prison camp, McMullen returned to the United States in 1943 and was elected president of his the next year. He began in the role in September 1944 as "co-president" alongside Robert L. McLeod, who had been away since December 1942 as a chaplain in the United States Navy. The war having concluded, both McLeod and McMullen resigned in November 1945, though McMullen stayed at Centre as its lone president until October 1946. After leaving Danville, he worked for the United Board for Christian Colleges in China before his 1953 retirement.

Early life and education

Robert Johnston McMullen was born on May 18, 1884, in Blackstock, South Carolina, to Henrietta Johnston and John Calvin McMullen. McMullen attended Central University of Kentucky, now known as Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky, and graduated in 1905.

Career

The year after getting married, McMullen and his wife left for mission work for the Presbyterian Church in the United States (commonly the "Southern Presbyterian Church") in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. After spending seven months in a Japanese prison camp during that country's occupation of China, He later gave several addresses about China and his time there, including one shortly after his return and several more in January and March 1945.

McMullen was elected president of Centre College in June 1944, filling a vacancy created two years prior when President Robert L. McLeod obtained a leave of absence in December 1942 to serve in the United States Navy as a chaplain. The need for a co-president was said to be that those at the college desired an "active official at the school", in the words of the chairman of the board of trustees. James H. Hewlitt had taken the role of acting president at the time and held it until McMullen's arrival, at which time he returned to his position as dean and a professor of English. Despite his title as co-president, his position involved the full duties of the office. During his short presidency, renovations began on Breckinridge Hall, a campus dormitory building, as well as on several buildings on Centre's women's campus. During his presidency, he delivered commencement addresses at Danville High School, Nicholasville High School, and what is now Western Kentucky University.

McMullen submitted his resignation on November 9, 1945, to take effect on October 1, 1946. McLeod resigned five days later, effective immediately, leaving McMullen to lead the school as its sole president for the following eleven months. After leaving office, Centre awarded him another honorary degree.

After leaving Centre, McMullen went to New York to be the executive secretary of the United Board for Christian Colleges in China, where he worked until 1952. He was the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for a short time in 1953 before he retired that same year.