Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Award Honorees
Organizations are underlined.
Mautra Staley Jones
Biographical Info
Nominated by Debra Wright and M.L. Caldwell
Through her educational, community, and organizational experience, Mautra Staley Jones is known as one of Oklahoma’s youngest thought leaders. She advances and elevates each institution she touches.
Mautra serves as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and External Affairs at historic Langston University. She leads the University’s Oklahoma City campus as site administrator. She is also executive director of the LU Foundation.
Married to United States District Judge Bernard M. Jones II, with three children—Bernard (“BJ”), Kennedy, and Brendan—Mautra holds a BA in Journalism, an MBA, and will complete an EdD at Vanderbilt University in December of 2020.
She 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. OKC Mayor David Holt appointed her to the Civic Center Foundation board of directors.
Mautra has held numerous offices with philanthropic and civic groups, earning multiple accolades within a broad assortment of agencies. The Journal Record has honored her as the 2020 Woman of the Year. The state’s largest business journal has named her as one of fifty women making a difference in the state of Oklahoma for the past three years. The 2018 Women of Color Expo presented by Perry Publishing and Broadcasting named her Woman of the Year. She has been recognized as an Achiever Under 40 by The Journal Record, OKC Biz and Oklahoma Magazine. She has served as a board director for Rotary Club 29, the Oklahoma County Bar Auxiliary, Black Liberated Arts Center, Inc., Storm Inc., and Metro Technology Centers Foundation. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., board of advisors for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce; a Salt and Light Leadership Fellow and a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City, Class XXIX. Mautra is a member of MSI Aspiring Leaders, a program developed by the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions, which prepares the next generation of MSI presidents.