Elizabeth Powell Mullen

Betsy Mullen is a newsroom veteran who first joined the journalism department as an adjunct instructor before moving into her current position.

Mullen began her journalism career at the Newport News Daily Press while still an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary, from which she graduated with degrees in English and government. She worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch while attending graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University. After finishing her master’s degree there, she did freelance writing before joining the staff of The Richmond News Leader.

Mullen’s first beat at The News Leader was local sports, which made her the first female writer in that role. Following that, she was a general assignment reporter and police reporter before moving to cover local government and then education. When The News Leader merged with the Times-Dispatch, Mullen became a feature writer and traveled across the state and region in pursuit of human-interest stories.

Before, during and after her newsroom positions, Mullen continued to produce freelance pieces for newspapers and magazines, as well as a chapter in The Book of American Traditions by author Emyl Jenkins.

Mullen is a native of Newport News, Va., where she honed her interest in athletics and nature around the rivers, creeks and ponds that dot the Tidewater region. The journalism bug bit her in middle school and she has yet to find a cure.