Beilue: From Indifferent to Exceptional

WT springs Mulloy to doctorate program at renowned St. Andrews

When William Mulloy eventually followed his brother and came to West Texas A&M University from Frisco in 2015, he charitably described himself as an indifferent student. Hard work and classes seemed mutually exclusive for him at Frisco High School. There was no real long-term goal at the outset that college might help attain.

“I wasn’t a very good high school student,” Mulloy said. “I was not really motivated. I had a conversation with my dad about how going to college was a clean slate. What I did or didn’t do in high school didn’t matter as long as I applied myself going forward.”

Removed by 350 miles from home, away from supervision, confronted by time-wasting temptations – that’s not usually the recommended choice to turn a disinterested high school student into an elite scholar.

Yet 5 ½ years later, Mulloy is about to complete his master’s degree in history. But more noteworthy than that, he has been accepted to the doctoral program at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The university, founded in 1413, is one of the top universities, along with Oxford and Cambridge, in the United Kingdom — and the world.

It’s a credit to WT and its history department to be the springboard to St. Andrews, and it’s a credit to Mulloy for shedding his past and willingly climb the ladder and jump.

“When I came to WT, I had that at the very front of my mind of that conversation with my dad,” he said. “I wanted to change and be a different person than I was in high school. It wasn’t that I was bad, but I just didn’t apply myself.”

Mulloy’s family had a history with WT. His father, John, grew up in Canyon and Dallas and went to WT in the 1980s. An older brother, John Jr., got a degree in mechanical engineering at WT before studying nuclear engineering at Texas A&M University. William visited his brother several times in Canyon, not knowing if he too would follow to WT, or if he did, what he would study.

“I didn’t know what my interests were, but on one visit, I talked to someone — and I can’t even tell you his name — and he mentioned the history program,” Mulloy said. “I just kind of remembered that.”

He had a good feeling about WT, almost like a second home. He applied, was accepted, and put down a major of history — if nothing else, based on the recommendation of a couple of years ago and an interest in the field.

“I wasn’t sure of my career path at that point, but I never looked back,” Mulloy said. “I’ve loved every second of it. I’ve been here for 5 ½ years and the fact that it’s almost over, it’s almost shocking. It’s gone by so quickly.”

Mulloy had to not only discipline himself to study, but learn how to study. He was a fixture in writing labs. He wore out his professors with questions after class. His defining college experience, he said, no matter where it led, was to leave behind the lackluster student from his high school days.

“It’s hard to believe William was not an interested student in high school,” said Dr. Bruce Brasington, recently named the Twanna Caddell Powell Professor of History, the first endowed professorship in history at WT. “I can’t imagine him anything other than a serious student, and not serious in a weird sense. He’s always been focused and self-critical in a good way.

“You don’t have to remind William he needs to improve. He takes criticism well. He recognizes the need to keep working and has never shied away from work. He’s a lot better than I was at his age. If I could clone him, it would be great. He’s just been a delight to work with.”

Mulloy got his undergraduate degree in 2019. His overall GPA was 3.4, but it was 3.9 in history. What may have been an uncertain path four years before has been clear for some time. He wants to teach at the university level, which meant graduate degrees.

He weighed the option of getting a master’s degree at a different university to show versatility and freshness. Some advised to study elsewhere. He applied at a few other universities, but in the end, he stayed where he was.

It was comfort. It was familiar relationships with professors like Brasington, Dr. Tim Bowman and Dr. Matthew Reardon, among others.  But it was also gleaning knowledge.

“My first class was Greco-Roman history, and I remember the life Dr. Brasington put into that class and how interesting it was on a consistent basis,” Mulloy said. “Every day I looked forward to that class because he showed how invested he was. It was not him reading out of textbook. It was his class having a dialogue. Every professor I had was like that.”

Brasington was Mulloy’s undergraduate advisor and is also his master’s thesis director. His master’s thesis, to be completed this spring, is “A Question of Control: Violence and Late-Medieval Authorities During the Hundred Year War,” a look at violence in England and France in the 14th century. His master’s is a two-year program that was sandwiched around 20 hours working at the Cornette Library. Mulloy’s focus is medieval history, which is one of Brasington’s specific areas of instruction.

Mulloy began to apply for doctorate programs in September. Actually, it was for just one program. He put all his eggs in one doctoral basket, the medieval history at St. Andrews to study under renowned history professor, Dr. Justine Firnhaber-Baker. She is Harvard- and Oxford-educated and is perhaps the foremost professor in Europe on medieval history.

The competition for those few spots is fierce. If he was not accepted, there was no Plan B. It was unorthodox, to say the least. His application was completed and sent in December. On Jan. 8, he received an email from St. Andrews. Mulloy’s heart rate increased and panic was right around the corner.

“Dear William…”

“All I could read was the beginning of the email,” he said. “It took a couple of minutes to get the courage to scroll down.”

When he did, the word “congratulations” caused a slight exhale. He had been accepted. Classes began in September, and at least the next four years will be the most exhausting and consuming period of his 23-year-old life.

For WT, it’s a testament that accomplishments at the highest level of academia need not come from those inside of ivory-covered walls, but can and often do come from regional universities as well.

“I feel like a college football coach who had a player taken in the first round of the NFL draft,” Brasington said. “It demonstrates that everything is possible here if you have an individual like William. It’s not me. It’s his fellow grad students. It’s this faculty willing to work with students to achieve what their God-given abilities will allow.

“WT is a university for everyone no matter your point of emphasis. We have great ag, business and nursing schools, but we’re not all the same. We’re here to help the student. William came here with ability, drive and determination. He deserves a seat at the table. William is WT.”

Do you know of a student, faculty member, project, an alumnus or any other story idea for “WT: The Heart and Soul of the Texas Panhandle”? If so, email Jon Mark Beilue at jbeilue@wtamu.edu.