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 oversaw 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 a portion of the University's business operations in his role as Senior Vice President.

His accomplishments at Tulane included establishment of the Tulane-Xavier-Loyola-Dillard 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 issues related to urban development, diversity and multiculturalism.

Dr. Mason is involved in numerous public service activities, including membership on the following boards: the Southern Development Foundation, the University of Dayton and First American Community Development Corporation. 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 the West Jackson Community Development Corporation, Capital Center, Inc., Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, Mississippi Technology, and the Mississippi Telecommunications Conference and Training Center Commission.

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. Dr. Mason is married to Belinda DeCuir Mason, and has one daughter, Nia, and two sons, Jared and Kenan.

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