Caleen Jane (Anderson) “Callie” Mitchell (BSBA ’77, Management) had never visited Tulsa before choosing The University of Tulsa for her undergraduate studies. She arrived at TU after having grown up in Minnesota and Illinois and never looked back.
“I came down here and just fell in love with the place,” she recalls. “The city, the school, everything. Tulsa was probably the best thing to have happened to me at that time to prepare me for my career. It was small, they treated everyone equally, and they instilled a sense of confidence in us that I didn’t see the big state schools doing for my friends.”
That confidence was important to her success in the male-dominated energy industry, where she built her career, and she says she always was fortunate to have good bosses and mentors who helped her along the way. Mitchell enjoyed a fulfilling career, culminating with her position as Vice President of Enterprise Services at Williams in Tulsa, where she also served as president of the Williams Foundation.
Callie Mitchell was named a TU Distinguished Alumna in 2006 in recognition of her career accomplishments and dedication to her alma mater. She also was named an Outstanding Alumna of the College of Business Administration in 2002 (later, the Collins College of Business). Callie donated her time and talent to TU by serving on the Executive Advisory Board of the Collins College of Business (2001-2008), as a Director of Friends of Finance (2004-2005), and as a member of the Strategy Board for the Center of Excellence, Information Technology and Communications (2002).
Callie’s time at TU was also deeply influential in her personal life because she met and married her husband, Murphy Delmar “Murph” Mitchell (BS ’77, HPER), while they were students at TU. Murph also pursued a fulfilling career after his TU graduation, serving for part of his career as Executive Director of the Tulsa Golf Association (2002-2008). The couple has retired to Scottsdale, Arizona, where they now enjoy an active retirement life, with Murph focusing on golf and Callie on horseback riding. They have two grown children, Paige and Lauren.
Murph Mitchell is a TU Football Letterman, and he has continued to enjoy athletic competition throughout his life, playing competitive softball after college, and then golf. He was named the 2015 Arizona Senior Division Player of the Year, and in 2020, he was ranked Number 4 on the Senior Amateur Golf Circuit.
Murph and Callie Mitchell have generously supported their alma mater since 1978, with most of their gifts fortifying TU Athletics programs and the Collins College of Business.
In 2007, Murph Mitchell established a planned gift, which will fund an endowment to perpetually support the athletics programs that he enjoyed so much when he was a TU student-athlete, and later, as an alumnus and Golden Hurricane fan. This endowment is known as the Murphy Mitchell Endowment for Athletics.
In the same year, Callie Mitchell established a life insurance gift to support programs in the Collins College of Business, and this endowment is known as the Callie Mitchell Endowment for the Collins College of Business.
The University of Tulsa community is deeply grateful to these devoted alumni, who have made it a priority to fund resources for future generations of TU students and student-athletes.
