Ronald Mason Jr. will be honored with the 2024 Marie Fielder Medal for Social Transformation, present by Fielding Graduate University at the Fielding convocation on July 10.
Ronald Mason Jr.
"I am humbled to receive this year's Marie Fielder Medal. It's a prestigious honor," said Mason, the former president of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). He was UDC’s ninth and longest-serving president whose tenure spanned from 2015 to 2023.
Mason recalled previous awardees and those in the Fielding community "who believed in a moral universe and made it their responsibility to fight for justice both inside and outside of the academy." He said Dr. Orlando L. Taylor, the former director of the Marie Fielder Center, and Fielding President Dr. Katrina S. Rogers are among them. "I am grateful that my contribution to the cause allows me to be counted among their number," he said. Mason partnered with Rogers to offer the UDC-Fielding Urban Leadership and Entrepreneurship doctoral program, which launched in 2019 and graduated its first cohort in 2023.
"We are honored to have President Mason accept the Fielder Medal in recognition of his career devoted to HBCUs and their students," said Dr. Katherine McGraw, the director of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education. "His leadership at Jackson State University and the University of the District of Columbia has ensured opportunities for countless African American students to access and thrive in higher education. Nothing could be more appropriate to the mission of the Marie Fielder Center to advance social and educational justice and inclusion."
