Professor retires leaving legacy of fairness, kindness

Morgan Conklin/Summer Reporter LET’S GET PHYSICAL: Jim Mullen, professor of physics, demonstrates his knowledge in the field by showing how a Levitron can defy gravity by floating. Mullen retired from the University June 30.

By Morgan Conklin
Summer Reporter

"This is paycheck 422 out of 422," said retiring physics professor Jim Mullen as he took his final paycheck from his desk.

Mullen, who began teaching at Purdue in September of 1964, retired from the University on June 30, at age 67, and said he is ready to enjoy some of the things he has been putting on hold since he began his career.

"I would like to spend more time with my family," Mullen said, speaking of his eight children who range in age from 41 to 9. "I sense that I may have deprived my children by not being there as much as I could have been, but unfortunately that comes with climbing the academic ladder," he said.

To commence his retirement, Mullen, along with his wife and four youngest children are leaving for a vacation in Florida this week.

At the moment, he has a daughter who is attending Purdue and is studying psychology. The thing that sets her apart from other students at the University is that she is only 16. "I have very gifted children. Carol (the daughter at Purdue) had taken classes at the University as an auditor for some time before beginning classes full-time. And I have another daughter, who is also very bright, but at age 14, she has decided to stay in high school so she can be a cheerleader and attend prom, things like that," he said.

"I definitely like children," Mullen said, however, "The students are partly the reason why I am retiring; I haven’t been having fun the past couple of years."

Mullen believes that children who have grown up in today’s society have lost respect for authoritative figures. "There is a crisis on education - it is really in a terrible state," he said. "The focus, which should be education, has shifted toward entertainment because there is a deep anger on the part of the students."

Professors, Mullen said, "Work hard to both educate and please the students due to the collapse of confidence by authority in the society - (professors) are merely regarded as hired hands, while the student is the paying customer."

Although Mullen has never had a student be notably disrespectful in his classroom, he knows of many professors who have had to deal with unmanageable students.

He said that one time a student came to a fellow professor’s class with a can of beer. "He got up in the middle of lecture and put his beer down on the overhead, then walked out," Mullen said. "To that, the professor replied ‘either that student was really drunk, or not drunk enough.’ But it is things like that that have made me enjoy teaching less."

Mullen said the thing he will miss most about Purdue will be interacting with the graduate students. "I will miss that, but I am not going to look back, instead I will look forward to the future." Mullen said he doesn’t want to think of his retirement as the end, but rather the commencement of new things to come.

In the future, Mullen plans to go scuba diving, golfing, possibly try sky diving and perhaps get another job. "Some people may consider themselves over-the-hill at age 50, however, I am in very good physical shape for my age — I can run eight miles on a treadmill and press 400 pounds with my legs. I am a very active person, and am planning to live past 100," he said.

Inventing is also something that Mullen takes interest in. "I want to make Post-its better," he said. Now that he is retired, Mullen hopes devote some time to come up with a marketable way to improve the Post-it.

Mullen, who is a straightforward man, wants to be remembered by his fellow faculty as someone who treated others with a spirit of fairness and kindness. He said, laughing, "One faculty member said, ‘Mullen, you’re a critical person, but what is intolerable of you is that your criticism is true.’ That person was probably correct."

"Jim was a good colleague, he has always been one to contribute, not just on the physics level, but on a social level as well," said Andrew Hirsch, physics department head.

As the day came to an end, Mullen made one last comment, "My last day is supposed to be (June 30) but that is a Saturday. I’ve already gotten my last paycheck so I hope no one will miss me if I am not here." To that, Hirsch replied, "I don’t think anyone will be here on a Saturday, so I suppose I should tell Jim not to worry about coming in for his last day."