BATON ROUGE, La. – The president of Jackson State University in Mississippi is one of two new applicants to lead the Southern University System.
JSU President Ronald Mason Jr. and Clarence Newsome, the former president of Shaw University in North Carolina, are the two latest applicants to join the pool of four semifinalists scheduled to interview Tuesday on campus, Southern officials said Thursday.
But the Southern president search committee still must screen their experience and backgrounds before it is certain that Mason and Newsome also will be interviewed Tuesday, said Murphy Bell Jr., search committee co-chairman.
“They both have some exciting credentials,” Bell said.
Southern’s stated goal is to choose a new president by the end of April. Interviews were originally scheduled for last week but were postponed until Tuesday. Bell said it is possible more could still apply.
Mason has headed Jackson State, one of Southern’s top rivals, for 10 years. The public Mississippi college, along with Southern, is one of the nation’s largest historically Black colleges and enrolls nearly 9,000 students.
Mason is currently embroiled in controversy though over his support of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s proposal to merge Jackson State, Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University into one historically Black college.
