The Board of Supervisors for the Southern University System today named Ronald Mason, Jr. as president of the Southern University System.

Mason brings to Southern University more than 20 years of experience in higher education, community development and law. Mason is currently the president of Jackson State University. Mason has also served as the Founder and Executive Director of the National Center for the Urban Community at Tulane and Xavier Universities in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to his successful tenure at Jackson State, Mason held several positions at Tulane University, including Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Vice President for Finance and Operations.

After the announcement of Mason being selected as president, Murphy Bell, co- chair of the Southern University System Presidential Search Committee, said that Mason's breadth of experience, proven leadership, and developments in campus infrastructure during his tenure at Jackson State attracted the attention of many members of the Search Committee, which was charged with guiding the presidential search and ultimately recommending candidates to the Board.

Mason also has extensive involvement in public service and professional activities, including current membership on the White House Board of Advisors for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Boards of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO).  Additionally, he has served on the Boards of the American Council on Education and the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, Office of Postsecondary Education.

"Ron Mason is the perfect candidate to lead the SU System," said Tony Clayton, Chairman of the SU Board of Supervisors. "He has a unique grasp of the mission of land-grant universities and a passion for that mission.  He also brings solid experience in advancing public institutions by managing them effectively, expanding them through capital outlay, and enhancing them by forging successful ties and creating a sense of shared purpose with the external communities. I am delighted to welcome him into the Jaguar Nation."

Mason is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Columbia University in New York City. A graduate of the Harvard Institute of Educational Management, Mason is the recipient of numerous awards for his accomplishments such as: the Mayor's Medal of Honor from the City of New Orleans, the Martin Luther King Lifetime Achievement Award from Dillard, Loyola, Tulane and Xavier universities, and was one of five recipients of Columbia University 2008 John Jay Award for distinguished alumni.  He is married to the former Belinda DeCuir and has one daughter, Nia, and two sons, Jared and Kenan.

The Southern University and A&M College System was established in 1974 by a state constitutional mandate which fashioned the Southern University campuses into a system. Southern University is the nation's only historically black 1890 Land Grant University System in the nation. The System's five campuses are: Southern University and A&M College at Baton Rouge (est.1880), the Southern University Law Center (est. 1947), Southern University at New Orleans (est. 1956), Southern University at Shreveport (est. 1964), and the Southern University Cooperative Extension Service (est. 1972) and became the fifth campus of the System in 2001, named the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center.