In our cover story, “The Journey of Jackson State,” senior writer Ronald Roach says he discovered a university with great ambitions and talented individuals, such as its president Ron Mason and academic affairs vice-president Dr. Velvelyn B. Foster. Years ago, Ronald had written a story for Black Issues In Higher Education about Tulane University’s collaboration with the city of New Orleans that made the school responsible for managing the city’s troubled public housing authority. Mason, who was then Tulane’s general counsel, was running the housing authority and improving conditions for its residents.
“It was impressive to see a university administrator running a public housing authority of a major city,” Ronald recalls.
It didn’t surprise Ronald that Jackson State would grow and thrive under Mason’s leadership. “I knew Mason had skills and experiences atypical of most college presidents. He’s got vision and the savvy to make things happen.
What I most needed to learn was how Jackson State had evolved from the 1960s through the 1990s,” Ronald explains.
The transition for an institution moving from a college to a research university, as Jackson State has accomplished, represents a critical and ongoing evolution for many historically Black schools.
Hilary Hurd Anyaso
Editor
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
