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Mary Kay Sullivan to receive Maryville College Medallion

Oct. 15, 2021

Photo of Mary Kay Sullivan

Dr. Mary Kay Sullivan, Maryville College professor emerita, will be presented the Maryville College Medallion during the College’s annual Founder’s Day Celebration on Oct. 22.

The Maryville College Medallion is the highest award presented by the College. Awarded since 1990, it recognizes those individuals who have helped immeasurably toward perpetuating the College as a distinctive educational and cultural institution and who have had a profound influence on the future course of Maryville College.

Sullivan has a long history – and a deep, strong commitment to Maryville College – that began with her father, James H. Stevenson ’35, who came to the College from Pennsylvania at the recommendation of his Presbyterian minister. Sullivan’s father-in-law, Joseph Sullivan, served on the MC Board of Directors from 1959 until 1971.

Sullivan taught finance and organizational management at the College for 21 years before retiring in 2010. As a member of the MC faculty, she was the Joe D. Eakes Chair of Business. She earned the Outstanding Teacher Award in 1992 and 1997, and she was the runner-up for the award in 2010. During her tenure, she continuously contributed to her field of study by presenting papers at conferences, leading workshops, publishing articles and organizing numerous meetings with leaders in the business world.

She is the author of Study Guide to Finance, published by Prentice-Hall, and has published a number of articles in academic journals and books. She also has served on the editorial boards of two national journals and on the boards of a number of professional and community organizations, including the Foothills Land Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy of Tennessee, the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association and the Helen Ross McNabb Center.

After retirement, Sullivan continued to serve in an adjunct role at Maryville College, teaching finance classes. She joined the College’s Board of Directors in 2014 and has served on its Academic Affairs Committee, Finance and Investment Committee, and the Executive Committee. She served as Chair of the College’s governing body from 2016 until 2020 – becoming the 19th person to hold the position in the College’s 197-year history and the first female Board Chair. During her tenure as Board Chair, she oversaw the College’s bicentennial celebration and accompanying campaign. She also co-chaired the presidential search committee in 2019-20.

Sullivan holds a bachelor’s degree in romance languages from the University of Arkansas, a master’s degree in Italian language and literature from Bryn Mawr College, and an MBA and Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Tennessee.

Sullivan and her husband, William, reside in Knoxville, Tenn., and have two children.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”