April Mason Biography Legacies Project

April decided to attend a small liberal arts college called Mount Union College, which is now the University of Mount Union. April always had a knack for STEM courses, so she elected to major in Biology. While an undergraduate biology student, April had an adviser who encouraged her to work in his lab and participate in undergraduate research projects. Thanks to this mentor, April set her sights on graduate school. This decision started her on the path towards academia and higher education administration.

After graduating from Mount Union College, April was accepted into Purdue University’s master’s program in Botany. While in graduate school, April studied high lysine corn, which has a higher quality protein. She enjoyed the research so much that she decided to stay at Purdue and get her Ph.D. in Nutrition. Upon completing her Ph.D., April was offered a faculty position at Purdue and she remained on faculty there for 20 years.

April’s home department at Purdue was nutrition science. Her research area of expertise was focused on examining the availability of trace minerals (like iron and zinc) from plant foods, mostly soybeans, and dry beans. She also worked on several research projects and grants focused on food safety. While working on food safety, April and her team helped create a new fictional character who could help teach kids food safety practices. The character’s name was Ken McCann The Food Safety Man and he helped showcase safe food handling practices.

During April’s tenure at Purdue, she was mentored by a woman named Avanelle Kirksey, the first female Distinguished Professor at Purdue University. Avanelle engaged April on a World Bank research project in Indonesia. During this research trip, Avanelle saw something in April and encouraged her to consider going into higher education administration. Thanks to Avanelle’s encouragement, April attended the HERS Institute, an institute for women interested in higher education administration. The programming at HERS included the creation of a career road map. On her road map, April set two professional goals – become a dean and become a Provost of a land grant university. She achieved both.

Before coming to CSU, April worked on a couple of USDA grants with faculty members at Colorado State University. In fact, before April interviewed at CSU, she had established relationships with Chris Melby (former Department Head of Food Science and Human Nutrition) and Pat Kendall (former associate dean for research in the College of Health and Human Sciences). These relationships helped April recognize the caliber of faculty members and the special community that CSU had to offer. Once the CSU College of Applied Human Sciences (now the College of Health and Human Sciences) Dean position opened up, April jumped at the chance to apply.

In August of 2004, April started her role as Dean of CSU’s College of Applied Human Sciences. This was a big transition for April because she had been at Purdue University for 27 years (combined time as a student and faculty member). April shared while it was hard to leave Purdue it was just as easy to come to CSU due to the welcoming university community.

While serving as Dean of CSU’s College of Applied Human Sciences, April thinks fondly about four major pride points:

1. The creation of several new CHHS Ph.D. Programs – April helped launch multiple Ph.D. programs within the College of Health and Human Sciences. When April started as Dean, she realized that several departments could benefit from having Ph.D. program offerings to attract the best and brightest faculty. By the time she left, four departments had new Ph.D. programs, which helped transform the college.
2. The creation of the Avenir Museum – April helped facilitate the donor relationship that led to the creation of the UCA Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising. April views development as a team sport and she thoughtfully acknowledges a CSU Facilities Project Manager, Cass Beitler, who was able to paint a picture and show the donor what could be possible in the space. April even gave a Friend of the College award to Cass because he helped lock in the gift.
3. The creation of the CEP – April helped develop the School of Education’s Center for Educator Preparation.
4. Navigating the financial crisis of 2008 – April had the challenging task of being dean of the College during the 2008 financial crisis. This climate forced April to be savvy with resources. When reflecting on her time working with CSU students during the financial crisis, she was amazed about their openness to new ideas and willingness to understand budget cuts.

Although April deeply enjoyed her experience at CSU, she decided to leave in 2010 to pursue the job of her dreams, becoming the Provost and Senior Vice President at Kansas State. She served in this role for 8.5 years