Marie Fielder Center
Marie Fielder Medal for Social Transformation recipient, Dr. Orlando Taylor speaks at the 2020 Delores Huerta award ceremony. (photo: pre-COVID-19)
Fielder Center Medalists
One of the Fielder Center’s signature initiatives is an annual award of the Marie Fielder Medal for Social Transformation, which recognizes an individual for a lifetime of achievements devoted to efforts that support equal educational access and success.
2024 medalist Ronald Mason Jr., J.D.
Ronald Mason, Jr., J.D.
Ronald Mason Jr. J.D. was the ninth president of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), the only public university in the nation’s capital and the only exclusively urban land-grant institution in the United States. This is his third presidential appointment. Having begun at UDC in 2015, Mason is the university’s longest-serving president.
With outstanding programs in green technology, engineering, computer science, homeland security and speech pathology, Mason leads an emerging institution committed to providing affordable, quality and innovative learning opportunities that prepare students for the practical demands of the workplace. As the entire “system” of higher education for the District, UDC offers workforce development, an open admissions community college, and flagship programs from bachelor to Ph.D. and J.D. degrees.
Under his leadership, the university began a multi-million-dollar capital renovation and expansion program; spending on research has almost tripled; the Center for Diversity, Inclusion & Multicultural Affairs (CDIMA) was created; two new Ph.D. programs were initiated and launched (Urban Leadership & Entrepreneurship and Engineering & Computer Science); the institution secured the most significant private gift in its history—$2.3 million for need-based scholarships.
Prior to his appointment at UDC, Mason served a five-year term as the chief executive officer of the Southern University and A&M College System and spent ten years as president of Jackson State University. Before that, Mason developed a successful record of progressive leadership at Tulane University, including senior vice president, general counsel and vice president for finance and operations. He also served as the founder and executive director of the National Center for the Urban Community at Tulane and Xavier Universities.
Mason has served in many leadership roles over the years, including two terms on the National Association for Institutional Quality and Integrity and multiple terms on the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Board. He has chaired the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Education and advised three U.S. presidents through the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Mason formerly served on the Board of the American Council on Education and the American University of Nigeria Board. He is a Digital Promise Board Member and serves on the Educational Testing Service HBCU Advisory Committee and the Vice-Chair of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area.
Mason is the recipient of numerous recognitions, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Award for Educational Leadership, the Benjamin E. Mays Educator of the Year, Columbia University John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement, TMCF Educator of the Year, the City of New Orleans Medal of Honor, and the Tulane/Xavier/Loyola Lifetime Achievement Award.
A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Mason received his B.A. and J.D. from Columbia University. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Institute of Educational Management.
2022 medalist Dr. Orlando L. Taylor
Fielding Graduate University and the Marie Fielder Center were honored to make the sixth Award of the Marie Fielder Medal to Dr. Orlando L. Taylor in November 2022 at a virtual ceremony. Watch the replay of the ceremony livestream here.
Orlando L. Taylor, Ph.D.
Currently, Dr. Taylor serves as the Distinguished Senior Advisor to Fielding’s President, and Principal Investigator and Executive Director of the National Science Foundation-funded Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership (CASL). Previous roles include previous positions as president, provost, and faculty member at other universities. He is also the Founding Director of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education.
Based in Washington, D.C., Dr. Taylor has been a national leader in graduate education, including on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, for more than 40 years. He works tirelessly to continue to prepare the next generation of college and university researchers, faculty members, and leaders across the nation.
Past recipients of the Marie Fielder Medal for Social Transformation include Dr. Walter Bumphus, President of the American Association for Community Colleges; Dr. Gary Orfield, Co-Director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA; Dr. Patricia Gurin, Nancy Cantor, Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan; American labor leader Dolores Huerta; and Professor Angela Davis, social justice activist, writer and scholar.
About Dr. Marie Fielder
Dr. Marie Fielder was one of the most influential women in the history of California education.
Dr. Marie Fielder was one of the most influential women in the history of California education. Through her vision and commitment to justice throughout her lifetime and 60-year career, Dr. Fielder inspired many and left an indelible mark on the entire nation.
She was the first African American woman with a doctorate to teach in the San Francisco Bay Area and one of the first researchers who documented cultural bias in IQ tests. She helped the Berkeley public schools become the first in the nation to desegregate through two-way busing—one of her proudest accomplishments. She was also a member of the Founding Board of Trustees at Fielding.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Fielder contributed to the work of such civil rights leaders as Martin Luther King Jr. and Whitney Young. She also advised numerous government and civil-rights organizations.
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