John Mason resigns as Eastern's provost and vice president for academic affairs

By JOHN McCALLUM

Editor

Eastern Washington University announced the resignation of provost Dr. John Mason on Monday, June 7, citing health reasons for his departure. Mason, provost and vice president of academic affairs, submitted his resignation in a letter to university President Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo on Friday, June 4.

According to a story appearing in the June 8 issue of the Spokesman-Review, Mason had been under fire from faculty regarding his handling of some affairs, including taking too long to make hiring decisions and that he'd attempted to make curriculum changes in science programs. Mason's expertise is in English, coming to Eastern in 2007 from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse where he served as dean of the College of Liberal Studies.

Mason also has been a faculty member at Youngstown State University and Western Washington University, as well as serving as associate vice president for academic affairs and interim dean of the College of Humanities at California State University-Northridge.

According to the Spokesman, Mason

also faced a potential no-confidence vote in Eastern's Faculty Senate, a vote schedule for Monday but tabled after receiving word of his resignation. Contacted Tuesday afternoon, Eastern faculty organization president Raphael Guillory confirmed the vote and its tabling, but wouldn't elaborate further on faculty issues with Mason.

EWU media spokesman Dave Meany said he was not up on the faculty issues with Mason.

“The university's position on that issue is that it is a personnel matter and we have no comment,” Meany wrote in an e-mail.

Arévalo addressed the issue in a campus-wide e-mail on Monday, saying, “John cares deeply about Eastern Washington University, and I appreciate his dedication, work and contributions on behalf of the University.”

Mason's resignation is effective June 30.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].