Sally Mason

The daughter of an immigrant father and the first child in her family to attend college, Dr. Sally Mason went on to become a cellular and developmental biologist. She ultimately served as the Provost of Purdue University (2001-2007) and the 20th President of the University of Iowa (2007-2015). She retired as President Emerita with the University of Iowa’s (UI) Department of Biology.

Dr. Mason earned her B.A. degree in zoology from the University of Kentucky and her M.S. degree from Purdue University. Her Ph.D. degree in cellular, molecular and developmental biology was awarded by the University of Arizona. Her academic training included two postdoctoral research years at Indiana University. She then joined the biosciences faculty at the University of Kansas, where she received awards for outstanding advising and teaching and a prestigious Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence.

She then held leadership roles at KU, serving as acting chair of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences before being appointed Dean of that college.