David Wiley Mullins was born on August 11, 1906, in Ash Flat, Arkansas, the son of Roscoe C. and Emma Matilda Mullins. He entered the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1927, majoring in history and mathematics. He received his B.A. from the University of Arkansas in 1931, graduating Cum Laude. He then began work as a teacher in Williford, Arkansas. At Williford he began his long career in school administration, serving as superintendent of Williford schools from 1932 to 1935. In 1934 he completed an M.A. in history and political science at the University of Colorado, and in August 1935 he married Eula Elizabeth Harrell. Together they had three children, Carolyn, David Jr., and Gary. Mullins subsequently was superintendent of Lepanto, Arkansas, schools from 1935 to 1941. In 1941 he completed his Ed.D. at Columbia University and was hired as an associate professor and chairman of the Department of Educational Administration by Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API), a branch of Auburn University. World War II interrupted his career in education; Mullins served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. In 1946 he resumed his duties at API, becoming an executive vice-president of Auburn in 1949. He held this post at Auburn until 1960, when he was appointed president of the University of Arkansas. His career at Arkansas was characterized by an unprecedented development and expansion of the university, and earned him recognition from several sources. In 1965 Hendrix College awarded Mullins an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and in 1969 the Arkansas Democrat named him Man of the Year in Arkansas. Mullins retired as president of the University of Arkansas in 1974, completing a fourteen-year tenure, the second longest term served by any president of the university. In 1983 the University of Arkansas awarded Mullins an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He died on September 22, 1987, at the age of eighty-one.