President's Biography

Karol V. Mason
President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

John Jay College President Karol V. Mason is a legal pioneer and powerful voice for student success, equality and criminal justice reform. 

At John Jay, Mason has raised over $33 million to support her vision for student success, which has substantially increased graduation rates and generated record fundraising. Her student success initiatives fuel academic achievement and career preparation and include MBK Connect, a partnership with the Obama Foundation that supports men of color through college prep, mentorship and brotherhood, and the Completion for Upper-Division Student Program, which marries data-driven science with responsive personal advising. Mason also launched the Future of Public Safety Initiative, which helps communities reshape safety policy, programs and budgets, and led robust strategic planning efforts, a successful re-accreditation process and creation of the Seven Principles for a Culturally Responsive, Inclusive and Anti-Racist Curriculum.

Prior to joining John Jay, Mason served as assistant attorney general at the US Department of Justice, where she led the Obama Administration’s juvenile justice, bail reform and re-entry programs, with responsibility for a $4 billion annual budget. As partner at Alston & Bird, LLP, Mason chaired the Public Finance Group and was the first African American woman to chair a management committee at a major law firm.

Mason served on the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2009 and as vice chair from 2007 to 2009. She earned a BA in mathematics from UNC and a JD from the University of Michigan Law School.