[HBCU_Presidents] Dr. Ronald Mason: Jackson State University

Posted on 20. Oct, 2009 by Leshell Hatley in HBCU Presidents, Scholarly Celebrations

Dr. Ronald Mason, Jr. assumed the presidency of Jackson State University on February 1, 2000. He is Chief Executive Officer of the only university based in the largest metropolitan area and capital city of the state of Mississippi. He brought to the University a wealth of experience in higher education, community development and the law. At the time of his appointment by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning, he was serving as Executive Director of the Tulane-Xavier National Center for the Urban Community in New Orleans, Louisiana.

As Founder and Executive Director of the Tulane-Xavier Center, Dr. Mason coordinated the two universities’ extensive involvement in public housing, economic development and public education. These initiatives grew from Dr. Mason’s 1996 appointment by then U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros as Executive Monitor for the Housing Authority of New Orleans. In this unique role, Dr. Mason was assigned the additional responsibility by Tulane to oversee the recovery of the housing authority, including the involvement of Tulane and Xavier faculty, students and staff in developing model programs to stimulate resident self-sufficiency and to implement welfare reform and welfare to work programs through the Tulane-Xavier Campus Affiliates Program and the Tulane Institute for Resident Initiatives. The campus affiliates program was funded through a $10 million grant obtained by Dr. Mason from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Other initiatives developed in the Tulane-Xavier Center included a Ford Foundation public school reform planning initiative, an Annie E. Casey neighborhood development and family strengthening initiative, and a welfare to work initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. During his 18 years at Tulane, Dr. Mason served in several capacities, including Senior Vice President and General Counsel, and Vice President for Finance and Operations. As chief legal officer, he was the principal legal advisor to the President, senior officers, deans, and Board of Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund. He also managed the University’s business operations in his role as Senior Vice President.

His accomplishments at Tulane included establishment of the Tulane-Xavier-Loyola-Dillard universities Martin Luther King Week for Peace and bringing to Tulane the Amistad Research Center, one of the nation’s largest collections of original documents and art on the experience of minorities in the United States. He also was the principal investigator on a grant awarded by the Ford Foundation to explore the issue of racism in higher education with presidents of highly selective southern universities, and spent six weeks in Kenya and Tanzania, East Africa, as Tulane’s representative on the Louisiana Consortium for Higher Education. Dr. Mason has written and spoken extensively on many topics, including community and economic development, diversity and multiculturalism.

Dr. Mason has been or is involved in numerous public service activities, including membership on the following boards and committees: the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity of the U.S. Department of Education, the President’s Advisory Board of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the American Council on Education Board of Directors, and the First American Community Development Corporation Board. He is also the recipient of the Mayors Medal of Honor from the City of New Orleans and the Martin Luther King Lifetime Achievement Award from Dillard-Loyola-Tulane and Xavier Universities. As President of Jackson State University, Dr. Mason serves on the Boards of Downtown Jackson Partners, Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, Mississippi Technology Alliance, Mississippi Telecommunications Conference and Training Center Commission, the Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange, and the MetroJackson Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Mason earned his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Columbia University. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Institute of Educational Management.

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3. [ HBCU_PRESIDENTS ] Dr. Mary Sias: Kentucky State University
4. [ HBCU_Presidents ] Chancellor Harold Martin, NC A&T State
5. Nadya Mason: Physics Professor & Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award Winner

Tags: 16 years old, American Council on Education Board of Directors, Annie E. Casey, Association of School Business Officials, Boards of Downtown Jackson Partners, Columbia University, Daniel Hale Williams, DAYBREAK - A TIME TO REST 1967, Department of Health and Human Services, Distringuished University Professor of Sociology, Dr. Helen S. Faison Chair in Urban Education, Dr. Ronald Mason, Eric Holder, First American Community Development Corporation Board, Harvard Institute of Educational Managemen, Head of the UCLA Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program, Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, James West, Jazzman's Cafe, John P. Parker, Lloyd Hall, Louis Farrakhan, Marie and Albert Brown, Martin Luther King Lifetime Achievement Award from Dillard-Loyola-Tulane and Xavier Universities, Masters, Mayors Medal of Honor from the City of New Orleans, MetroJackson Chamber of Commerce, Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange, Mississippi Technology Alliance, Mississippi Telecommunications Conference and Training Center Commission, President’s Advisory Board of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, ROBIE Humanitarian Award, Shaker Heights High School, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity of the U.S. Department of Education, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Tulane the Amistad Research Center, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development