Lisa Reyes Mason has been selected to serve as the next dean of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Her appointment will begin Aug. 1.
Following a competitive national search, Reyes Mason was selected for her extensive leadership experience, strategic vision, collaborative approach, and strong commitment to the mission and values of social work education.
Reyes Mason currently serves as professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, where she recently completed a term as interim dean. Before serving as interim dean, she was associate dean for academic affairs.
As interim dean, Reyes Mason led a school with a $50 million annual budget, more than 50 full time faculty members, approximately 200 adjunct faculty, 100 staff members, and 1,200 master’s and doctoral students. During her tenure, she guided the school through a period of fiscal constraint while maintaining a focus on organizational culture, enrollment and revenue stability, and institutional advocacy.
Reyes Mason also brings a strong record of advancing academic innovation and student success. She has overseen both in person and online academic programs, led curriculum revision efforts, strengthened student support services, and helped develop new academic concentrations, including an Ecological Justice concentration within the Master of Social Work program at the University of Denver.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and both her Master of Social Work and Ph.D. in Social Work from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Her scholarship focuses on advancing social and environmental justice, reducing inequities, and strengthening the connections among research, policy, and practice. She is nationally recognized for interdisciplinary and community engaged research, collaborating with colleagues across engineering, geography, public health, and public policy to address complex societal challenges.
Reyes Mason’s focus on sustainable growth, systems thinking, social justice, and statewide impact, together with her thoughtful approach to balancing innovation and institutional capacity, positions her well to lead the School of Social Work into its next chapter.