• W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship Recipient •

Self-Proclaimed Advocate of Online Education Uses It to Better His Career

 

For Dexter Mullin, earning a graduate degree means more than adding another credential to his resume. It is about creating new opportunities for his career while showing his three children that it is never too late to invest in yourself.

"I see [going back to college] as an opportunity to show my kids that no matter how old you are or where you're at in your life journey, you can always still take that step and get an education," Mullin said. "The opportunities are there. You can reprioritize some things. You might have to give up something here and there, but you can always go out and obtain that degree if you really want to. Even from a financial standpoint, of just being able to provide for my family, having that educational background has been a tremendous blessing."

Mullin, a Siloam Springs native who works as a project manager for Simmons Foods, is pursuing an Online Sam and Janet Alley Master of Science in Construction Management degree through the University of Arkansas College of Engineering. He expects to graduate in May 2027.

This degree will be a vital leg of an educational journey that began after he was already married, working and raising a family. Mullin, who has worked for Simmons Foods for about five years, manages capital and construction projects. While his work deals with construction project management, Mullin stated he wanted to strengthen his understanding of the field.

"I was getting to a point that I'm not sure I would be able to move up without having some type of education or at least more knowledge or experience," Mullin said. "I don't have a strong background in construction, so I am looking for opportunities to learn more about the construction management process."

For Mullin, continuing his education has reinforced his belief that career and educational opportunities do not have to be limited by where someone is in life. Mullin's experience also has made him an advocate for online education. All his degrees have been earned online, allowing him to pursue higher education while working and raising his family, he said.

The U of A's online master's in construction management program will help him gain the knowledge he needs to advance in his career while keeping pace with the demands of work and family life, he said.

Mullin researched several construction management programs before choosing the U of A. According to Mullin, the program's fully online format and affordability were important factors, but so was the ability to tailor his education to his professional interests.

"Being purely online has been extremely nice, especially with my work and family schedules, those types of things," Mullin said. "Obviously, the affordability is a big part in it but then, being able to customize my classes is something I really enjoy about the program. While the program includes required core courses, I really appreciate being able to choose electives that align with what I want to achieve."

For Mullin, that flexibility is essential. He and his wife have been married for 14 years and have three children — a 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old twin boys. He also volunteers at his church and is running for the Siloam Springs city Board of Directors. In addition to these responsibilities and full-time employment, his days often revolve around his children's activities, adding another layer to an already busy schedule.

Online learning allows him to work his education into the spaces between all his responsibilities, he said.

"[I enjoy] being able to complete my job throughout the day then working on classes in the evenings or utilizing the weekends," he said. "Sometimes it does get challenging, especially when there are extra demands at work or during sports seasons, which we are currently in right now with my kids. The flexibility of not having to attend class at a set time at a set location, being able to log in and do my work whenever, is incredible. Multiple times, I'll be sitting at a ball field or waiting while they're out there practicing, completing some of my assignments right there. That sheer flexibility, I would say, is one of the top things about online learning for me."

Mullin credits two professors with influencing his experience thus far: he studied building information modeling under Ralph Tayeh and contracts and disputes under Carl Circo. Both faculty members are lecturers in Civil Engineering.

"All my professors have been great," Mullin said. "They've been very responsive and helpful throughout the entire program. Out of all the classes I've taken, the course on modeling was probably one of the most influential just because of the sheer amount of learning I was able to grasp. There were plenty of times that I had questions; Professor Tayeh responded very quickly and was always eager to help us out. I also learned a lot from Professor Circo about contracts and how to negotiate agreements and resolve disputes. And once again, he was very, very informative and very helpful with any questions that we had."

Mullin also has been able to connect his academic work to his professional responsibilities through certifications offered through the Project Management Institute where he has been a member since 2021, he stated. He earned a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certificate in May 2022 and then a Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate in March 2025.

The certifications, while not part of his degree, have strengthened his understanding of project management fundamentals, including scheduling, costs and managing projects from beginning to end. Mullin has already applied what he learned through the certifications to both his job and his coursework, he said.

"The project management professional certificate doesn't have a whole list of requirements that you have to meet," Mullin said. "You need so many hours of education plus so many years of experience to be able to apply. Throughout that whole learning process, you're basically learning the fundamentals of project management, kind of that standard across the board. Being able to study that has actually helped in my job. One, as a project manager, just learning the foundations of what a project manager does, but then two, being able to use those learnings to figure out what we're doing. Academic wise, the certification has helped with several classes that I've already taken because taking that certificate course has taught me how to work scheduling, how to overall manage projects from end to end. A couple upcoming classes are construction scheduling and construction project management, so that certificate is going to play right into those."

That connection between education and career is important to Mullin, who began pursuing higher education later than the typical college student.

"Right out of high school, I did not go the traditional route of going straight into college," he recalled. "I ended up going to work. I met my wife. We got married. We had a daughter. Life happened."

College was not a familiar path in his family. Mullin is a first-generation college graduate although some family members attended trade schools, he said.

He began taking online college courses in 2018. Since then, he has earned a bachelor's in business administration/project management and a master's in organizational leadership. The experience changed how Mullin thinks about education and what he wants his children to learn from watching him continue his studies, he said.

Mullin's commitment to continuing his education received an additional boost when he was selected as a recipient of the W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship for online University of Arkansas students. He is one of 39 students receiving the scholarship for the 2026-27 academic year. The scholarship was created in 2018 to provide financial assistance to students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree programs delivered online. Recipients receive $1,000 for each upcoming fall and spring semester in which they are enrolled, for a possible total of $2,000.

He learned about the scholarship through the Online Student Union, a forum available to students studying online, and another source before finding it in the university's scholarship portal. After learning about the opportunity and reading stories about previous scholarship recipients, he decided to apply.

"I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was selected," he said. "I was super pumped about it."

The scholarship is particularly meaningful for Mullin. While his employer provides tuition reimbursement, that benefit is capped each year. Without the scholarship, he anticipated having to pay for some of his upcoming courses himself.

"Between tuition reimbursement and the scholarship, I'll actually not have to pay anything for my degree," he said.

Mullin encourages other eligible students to apply for the scholarship, even if they are uncertain whether they will be selected.

"Absolutely apply," he said. "Even if you think you may not fully qualify, definitely give it a shot. I believe it was hockey star Wayne Gretzky who said, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.' So absolutely, absolutely go out and apply."