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CITY, ND – (NewsDakota.com) Dr. Tisa Mason is officially the 13th president of Valley City State University following a ceremony inside the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse.

Mason was overcome with emotion as she told the audience about her journey to become the president of the university. She said she was the first in her family to graduate with a college degree and then was fortunate enough to move on to become an administrator in higher education.

Mason said it will be an honor to lead this wonderful university into the future as the school enters into it’s 125th year of service to the state and community.

Mason was appointed VCSU president by the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education at its meeting on the VCSU campus Oct. 30, 2014, and she began her work at VCSU on Dec. 15, 2014. She succeeded Steven Shirley, now president of Minot State University.

Mason came to Valley City from Hays, Kan., where she served as vice president for student affairs at Fort Hays State University. She previously served as dean of student life at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater in Whitewater, Wis.; executive director of the Sigma Kappa Sorority and Foundation in Indianapolis, Ind.; director of student life and assistant professor at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Va.; and assistant dean of students, Hanover College, Hanover, Ind.

A frequent speaker on leadership, student involvement, adult learners, and fraternities and sororities on college campuses, she is a member of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and former president, treasurer and board member of the Center for the Study of the College Fraternity.

She and her husband, Bill Mason, make their home in Valley City. A tree-planting ceremony in honor of President Mason will take place in front of McFarland Hall on the VCSU campus on Friday, Oct. 2, at 1:30 p.m.