IOWA CITY Iowa
Sally Mason wasn’t brought up around higher education, but she plans to make herself right at home as the University of Iowa’s new president.
“I already feel that I am part of this University of Iowa community,” the 57-year-old Mason said after the state Board of Regents announced her selection on Thursday.
Mason, a biology professor and provost at Purdue University, has impressive credentials, including a Ph.D. in cellular, molecular and developmental biology from the University of Arizona. But, what may be most impressive about her rise through academia is that she was the first in her family to earn a college degree.
“Education has changed my life, it’s changed your lives, and it will change the lives of countless more in the future, and it will change the future of our state” she said.
Speaking at a news conference, she noted that her father came to America from Czechoslovakia as a child and didn’t finish the eighth grade. Her mother didn’t finish high school.
“And now, I’m president of one of the world’s great universities,” she said.
