Mulligan comes full circle back to Piedmont

Almost 10 years since receiving his doctorate at the school, Dr. Octavius Mulligan will be returning to walk the halls of Piedmont University. This time, though, he will be on the other side of the desk, serving as the school’s newest Dean of the College of Education.

Mulligan has received four separate degrees from the University, his Bachelor of Arts in early childhood education, Master of Arts in teaching, specialist degree and his Doctorate in education.

Spending that much time in a classroom studying how to teach would lead one to believe that Mulligan has had a longtime love and passion for teaching, however, the opposite is true. Growing up, Mulligan did not have the easiest relationship with school, and in his words, “I hated school. I didn’t like teachers. I didn’t like anything about school. … I guess God has a sense of humor too. He was like, ‘You hate school? I’ll show you.’ So my whole career has been in school.”

Mulligan’s reason for attending Piedmont was not related to academics at all, in fact, he went to Piedmont for the basketball team.

“Actually, the reason I came to Piedmont was the basketball coach was on his way on a trip,” Mulligan said. “He just happened to pull over on the side of the road and see a friend of mine and myself coming out of the gym, and he just said, ‘Hey, you guys play basketball?’ We said yes. And then one thing led to another, we came to try out. [The coach] said ‘I want you to come play.’ And that’s how it happened.”

The way that Mulligan ended up in the School of Education is simple. Student-athletes at Piedmont had to maintain a 2.0 GPA at the time, and one of Mulligan’s friends recommended a class that had a reputation for being easy.

“I took that Intro to Education course, and I passed it. It was pretty cool. Then one thing led to another, and I did a practicum at Piedmont, we had a childhood development center on campus. I had to teach a letter, and I chose the letter ‘U.’ I wore my basketball uniform over to the class and taught the kids, they just sat there and listened. I mean, they were in awe,” Mulligan said.

Mulligan started his teaching career at White Sulphur Elementary in Gainesville, where he worked for 10 years. Next, he moved to Habersham and became the assistant principal at Cornelia Elementary, then the assistant principal at South Habersham Middle. Mulligan spent eight years at Habersham Central High School as the assistant principal, until he moved his family to White County, where he served as assistant principal at White County High School. After spending a year and a half in that position, then half a year as the director of the White County Ninth Grade Academy, he became the principal of Testnatee Gap Elementary. Mulligan’s next adventure will take him back to where he started, Piedmont University.

During his time as a student at Piedmont, Mulligan did not only find the passion for his future career, but he also met the love of his life, Marlo, during his freshman year.

“When I got there, freshmen back in the day would come up a week or so early before everybody else got there to learn the college life, to do certain things, to interact with other freshmen and things like that,” Mulligan said.

“There were some upper-class students there that were helping as team leaders or whatever. I’m going to just tell you what I said. I said, ‘Are there any black girls here?’ Like that. And she showed me that picture and I saw that picture and I was like, ‘Oh wow, I want that one right there.’”

While Mulligan had his sights set on Marlo, she wanted nothing to do with him at the start. After Mulligan decided to back off a little, that’s when Marlo started reciprocating that attraction Mulligan showed to her. Now, the married couple has two sons, Sydnee and Silas, the latter of the two just finished his freshman year at his parents’ old school.

Mulligan has spent his teaching career changing the lives of students for the past 29 years, and at the end of the day, that has been his goal since the beginning.A career in education has given Mulligan the opportunity to reconsider the feelings he once held towards schooling, as he has had the opportunity to sit at the other desk in the room. Mulligan is someone who once hated school but has found his passion for education, which is what he believes is key to working in this field.

“Don’t get in it if it’s not a passion because this is a job that you have to have passion for people and students. It’s not a 9-to-5. Like when I go home sometimes, I’m thinking about a certain kid or a teacher or something that we could do to make things better, whereas if you go work at some company, you know, nine you’re there, you work until five, you’re done, you leave it there. … Make sure you love kids, because if you don’t love kids, then don’t go in it,” Mulligan said.

It was announced that Mulligan would become the next Dean of the College of Education at Piedmont University during Spring Commencement, where Mulligan was the guest speaker.

Returning to the school he graduated from, four times, is something that Mulligan is proud of, and he is appreciative not only for the opportunity but for the knowledge the professors passed down to him.

“It means that somewhere down the line, I’ve done something right to capture somebody’s attention and to give me the opportunity to come back in the field that I’m in,” Mulligan said. “Whatever I do here at my school and the schools that I worked at, I learned at Piedmont from those professors.”

While this career change was not necessarily something Mulligan was expecting, he is excited and honored.  “I’d like to thank President (Marshall) Criser for giving me the opportunity to serve as the Dean of the College of Education the whole Piedmont community. I appreciate that and I’m thankful that they trust that I can come in and do the job and do it well,” he said.