CONTACT:
LaToya Foster (EOM) (202) 727-5011; [email protected]
(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser congratulated the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and its Board of Trustees for their selection of Ronald Mason Jr. as the University’s new President. Dr. Mason previously served as president of Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., and Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss. He will lead the District’s only public university which serves more than 5,000 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, law school and community college programs.
Last night in a letter to the DC Council, Mayor Bowser announced her intention to fully restore funding for UDC in the District’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget.
“I welcome Ronald Mason to the District of Columbia and look forward to collaborating to develop programs and initiatives that will create pathways to the middle class for residents and the entire student body,” said Mayor Bowser. “I congratulate the board of the University of the District of Columbia for selecting a leader with a wealth of experience as they work to transform the District’s public university. We share in the commitment to improve UDC, and that is why we fully funded their budget through the budget process.”
“The Board of Trustees of University of the District of Columbia is extremely pleased to have the acknowledgement of Mayor Muriel Bowser for our selection of Mr. Ronald Mason, Jr. as the next President of the University,” said Dr. Elaine A. Crider, chair of UDC’s Board of Trustees. “We are also sincerely grateful to Mayor Bowser for restoring funding to the University. We look forward to collaborating with Mayor Bowser and her team in strengthening and moving the University to accomplish great things for the residents of the District of Columbia.”
As President, Mason will be tasked with continuing the University’s mission of providing a secondary education while also offering programs that promote workforce development. He will partner with the Bowser Administration as the Mayor continues her efforts to create pathways to the middle class by investing in programming that offers extensive training for good-paying jobs.
Mason was the seventh president of the Southern University and A&M College System, which included a Research University, a Law Center and a community college. During his tenure, he developed a social and academic framework designed to improve college attainment and completion for Black males; established an innovative partnership to create a Southern online degree brand through seven fully online degree programs; and led the expansion of the Shreveport community college onto the four-year campuses in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
Mason received his B.A. in History from Columbia University and his J.D. from Columbia School of Law at Columbia University.