Vivian A. Bull, the 18th president of then-Linfield College, passed away Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, at the age of 87. Bull led Linfield from 1992 to 2005 and oversaw dramatic change and growth for the university. She remains the only female president in Linfield history.

President Miles K. Davis notified the Linfield community of Bull’s passing and ordered flags to be flown at half staff on campuses in McMinnville and Portland.

“Dr. Bull led Linfield through a critically important time in its history,” Davis said. “Many members of our community remember her fondly, and I consider her a personal friend. Her legacy will forever be a part of this institution and community.”

Bull often cited her lifelong interest in international studies as an outgrowth of her youth in northern Michigan on a street with 15 families that spoke six different languages. She received her bachelor’s degree from Albion College (Mich.) and later a doctorate from New York University. She did graduate work at the London School of Economics on a Fulbright Scholarship and studied in Norway, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

From 1962 to 1992, Bull taught economics at Drew University in Madison, NJ. She also spent eight years as an associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts at Drew. During summers, she participated in archaeological expeditions in the Middle East alongside her late husband Robert Bull. Her background in international education, business and academic leadership in academics attracted the interest of a personnel firm conducting Linfield’s nationwide search for a successor to President Charles Walker.

Bull agreed to an interview, but suspected she was not at the top of the university’s list of prospective candidates.

“When I left Oregon, I dropped all my research materials in a recycle bin at Portland [International] Airport,” Bull said in an oral history interview housed in the Linfield University Archives and Special Collections. “I had a fine time with the people that I met but didn’t expect anything to come of it.”

Bull was eventually offered the job, of course. However, it was two years before she would refer to Oregon by name in public appearances.

“I would always use ‘this beautiful state’ because I was afraid of mispronouncing ‘Oregon’ the way we do in the Northeast,” she said.

Bull’s early years in McMinnville were defined by three issues: technology, inclusivity and a lawsuit over Linfield’s response to Title IX.

One of Bull’s first actions was to begin bringing the university up to date with an emphasis on upgraded technology. Having worked at Bell Laboratory, Bull saw the potential for growth in putting more students in front of computers – a rarity when she arrived. She is credited with moving the university firmly into the Internet age.

When students and faculty members challenged Linfield to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community, Bull met the challenge head-on. She publicly visited with members of the group asking for greater recognition and stood firmly on the side of acceptance despite the outcries of other students, faculty, alumni and community members.

“As we were holding meetings about how we would move forward, we even had some male athletes showing up regularly to support their friends,” Bull said. “We were far ahead [of society] in those discussions at a time when it wasn’t widely spread.”

She was known to meet regularly with the student advocacy group, Fusion, and publicly promoted her office as a welcoming space for all people. In 1995, the university amended college policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Regarding Title IX, Bull and Linfield were attacked from both sides. A lawsuit filed by a faculty member contended that the university was not doing enough to expand women’s athletic opportunities, while a group of alumni took the position that the changes being requested would detract from Linfield’s existing athletic programs. The Title IX portion of the lawsuit was eventually dismissed in court and Bull quelled the anxiety of the Linfield athletic community by promoting longtime baseball coach Scott Carnahan to athletic director.

On a foggy morning in October 1996, Bull received word that the 105-acre Hewlett Packard plant along the south edge of Linfield’s campus would be shuttered and moved to Connecticut. She later recalled walking across campus and peered to the other side of the fence separating the two properties.

“This is Linfield’s future for the next 100 years,” Bull recalls thinking, as part of her oral history interview. “How do we afford it?”

Bull and members of the administration inked a $4.95 million agreement to buy 17 acres of the property and the buildings on them in 1998. During the next three years, Hewlett-Packard donated the remaining 88 undeveloped acres – worth $7.8 million at the time. The expansion more than doubled the university’s footprint in McMinnville, from 87 acres to 192 acres. In addition, Bull helped oversee fundraising for and the renovation or construction of 14 university buildings during her tenure as president.

In 2005, Bull returned to Drew University where she later served as its interim president from 2012 to 2014.

Bull came back to Linfield for the dedication of the Vivian A. Bull Music Center in 2006, and she returned most recently in 2017 for homecoming.

In 2021, Marvin Henberg, who Bull had hired as dean of faculty 20 years earlier, said Bull’s leadership was unmatched.

“Vivian was the best boss, the one everyone deserves to have at least once in a lifetime,” Henberg said.

Bull’s legacy at Linfield is one of increased support for international studies, focused creativity and research, and as a visionary who led one of Linfield’s most rapid periods of growth.

“She was ahead of her time in many ways,” President Davis said. “If a person’s life can be measured by its positive impact on others, then Dr. Bull’s was a life well lived, indeed. Linfield will forever remain fortunate to have had her as part of our community.”