Dr. Steven D. Mason serves as the seventh President of LeTourneau University and as Professor of Old Testament in the School of Theology and Vocation. Dr. Mason has served LeTourneau in various roles since 2006, first as a full-time faculty member before becoming Dean of Faculty in 2011 and then Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs from 2016–2021. As Provost, he was a key visionary for establishing LeTourneau’s identity as the Christian Polytechnic University. The University Board of Trustees unanimously named him President in March of 2021.
As President, Dr. Mason has charged LeTourneau to embrace its unique institutional vocation and dedicated himself to leading the university to its future as the Christian Polytechnic University. Mason crystalized a vision for the university in a short monograph, LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic: Embracing the Saga of Our Unique Organizational Calling, which served as an impulse for the university’s last two strategic plans. He cast Vision 2035 as a unique strategic framework to guide LeTourneau and spearheaded the transformative Build with Purpose campaign to enable the university to deliver on its fullest potential in the decades to come. He participates in various national organizations, including the “Mission Self-Study Advisory Board” of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, helping Christian universities to assess and deepen their fidelity to their missions.
Mason received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University, a Master of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a PhD in Old Testament Studies from the University of St. Andrews. His principal research concerns covenant as a theme of the Hebrew Bible, including in a monograph, Eternal Covenant in the Pentateuch: The Contours of an Elusive Phrase, published by T&T Clark in 2008. He maintains an active scholarly profile and, among various papers and presentations, is currently working on another scholarly book under contract with Wipf & Stock. As Professor of Old Testament, Mason's excellence in teaching and ability to connect with students make him a favorite in and out of the classroom. He continues to teach annually in the Honors College.
His wife, Bonnie, also graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary and Baylor. They have three children, Caroline, William, and Christopher. Together, Dr. Mason and Bonnie are founding members of One Hope Presbyterian Church in Longview, where Dr. Mason serves as an elder. During his time in Dallas, Dr. Mason served on Young Life staff and coached athletics at Providence Christian School of Texas. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, he was an All-City quarterback and second baseman at Churchill High School.