The UA has hired a new Title IX director, four months after the search began.
Ronald A. Wilson joined the UA as Title IX director on Monday, coming from a similar position at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. From 2015 through 2018, Wilson worked as chief diversity officer, equal opportunity administrator, Title IX coordinator and investigator.
Before that, Wilson was a presiding judge for the city of South Tucson, a position he held from 2002 to 2014. Wilson was the first African-American to serve as presiding judge in South Tucson. At the same time, he worked as an adjunct faculty member in the UA’s Department of Africana Studies.
Wilson earned degrees from Syracuse and Northeastern and has received numerous awards, including the NAACP Rosa Parks Living History Makers Award.
“As our chief Title IX officer, Ron will lead the university in determining what resources, policies and procedures are needed to make our Title IX program a national model,” UA President Robert C. Robbins said Thursday said in a news release. “Ron is uniquely qualified for this role with a breadth and depth of experience that I have rarely encountered.”
Title IX is a federal law that guarantees gender equity in education and protects students from sexual harassment, assault and dating violence.
The UA is currently involved in two federal Title IX lawsuits and is being sued in Pima County Superior Court by a former athlete who was assaulted by her coach, former UA assistant Craig Carter. Carter is serving a five-year prison sentence after a jury ruled that he choked and threatened the student with a box cutter during a confrontation inside his McKale Center office.
The two federal lawsuits stem from former Wildcats football player Orlando Bradford’s abuse of several ex-girlfriends — all of them UA students. Bradford is serving a five-year prison sentence.
The lawsuits were filed in October 2017 and in January. Shortly thereafter, the UA hired a prominent Title IX attorney to review its policies and procedures. The changes, which included the addition of a full-time Title IX director, were announced in June.
Wilson’s hiring underscores the UA’s commitment to having a campus free from sexual harassment and gender discrimination, Robbins said in the release. Wilson will oversee the school’s Title IX program and report directly to Robbins. His first priority will be to assess the UA’s updated policies and procedures. He will also be responsible for developing programs and implementing training, the release said.
“We can and must go above and beyond compliance, and we will,” Wilson said in the release. “It is an honor to return home to the University of Arizona and work for President Robbins in this role.”
The UA’s Title IX program was previously headed by Mary Beth Tucker, who held several other duties on campus. Tucker will remain in her other roles.
