In celebration of Black History Month, the East Central University Black Alumni Association is proud to present Dr. Mautra Staley Jones, the first woman and the first person of color to serve as the president of Oklahoma City Community College.
The Feb. 20 event will include a dinner at 6 p.m., followed by the program at 6:45 p.m. in the ECU Chickasaw Business and Conference Center. The event is free and open to the public. Guests must RSVP by 3 p.m. Feb. 13 at ecok.edu/BAAEvent2023.
Jones was named the 11th president of OCCC on March 1, 2022. Her appointment as president also made Oklahoma history as she is the first African American woman to hold that position of any institution of higher education in Oklahoma that is not a Historically Black College and University.
Jones holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix at San Diego, and an Ed.D. from Vanderbilt University.
Jones has been appointed by Governors Kevin Stitt and Mary Fallin as a board director for the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, a commissioner for the Oklahoma Merit Protection Commission, and as a member of the Oklahoma standards steering committee. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt appointed her to the Civic Center Foundation’s board of directors.
Beyond her professional life, she is an active and engaged member of the community, providing leadership to various corporate, civic and charitable organizations, and received numerous awards, including being inducted into the Oklahoma African American Educators Hall of Fame and Woman of the Year by 405 Magazine. She is married to United States District Judge Bernard M. Jones.
About The Black Alumni Association: The Black Alumni Association was formed in 2018 to meet the needs of an increasing number of African American students on campus, and to provide an avenue for alums and BAA members to give back to the University and also bring events to ECU campus to promote the accomplishment of Black people, to promote African American Heritage, and assist ECU university in recruiting and attracting more students of color to campus.