Edward A. Sullivan, the sixth President of Salem Teachers College, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 1895. He received his B.A. degree with honors in 1914 and his M.A. in Classical Studies and English Literature in 1915, both from Boston College. Sullivan served in the U.S. Navy during World War I and held a number of teaching and administrative positions prior to his appointment as President of Salem Teachers College in 1937.

Mr. Sullivan's term of office spanned sixteen years, a period which paralleled a time of national stress as well as the expansion of American higher education. The teacher training programs of the state teachers colleges were being revised to keep pace with national and local trends and changes in the needs of students and the country. In order to comply with new accreditation standards set by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), Sullivan revised the education curriculum so that it not only had a professional education component, but also general education and specialized subject matter components. Salem was accredited by AACTE in 1950 and, in 1953, became one of the few public colleges in New England accredited by the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Sullivan retired from Salem Teachers College in 1953. He died on December 16, 1968.