Cole Mason ’23.5 was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford next fall, joining the 31 other American Rhodes recipients announced by the Rhodes Trust in a Nov. 11 press release. Mason is the newest of the 40 total Rhodes Scholars who have attended the College.
The oldest international fellowship and one of the most prestigious undergraduate honors, the Rhodes Scholarship funds up to four years of postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. Mason was selected from a pool of 862 students from the U.S. who were endorsed by 249 different colleges and universities, according to the press release.
Mason, who is majoring in political science and environmental studies at the College, will pursue a Master of Science in Nature, Society, and Environmental Governance next October, followed by a Master of Public Policy. Together, these programs will inform his academic interest in studying power in the context of how the environment is governed.
Mason was drawn to the programs because of the liberal arts spirit of their combined focus, he said in an interview with the Record. “I have this really strong interdisciplinary foundation — how can I apply that practically so that any sort of research or scholarship that I’m doing also makes change felt on the ground?” he asked.
In a statement submitted to the Record, President of the College Maud S. Mandel commended Mason on the achievement.
“Knowing everything I know about Cole’s accomplishments at Williams, I was thrilled but not entirely shocked to learn that he had been recognized with a Rhodes Scholarship,” she wrote in an email to the Record. “In so many ways, especially his work on climate policy, Cole embodies both the Scholarship’s imperative ‘to take an interest in one’s fellow beings,’ and our own ideal of being an educated and engaged global citizen. I’m so pleased for him, and expect great things from him in the future. His achievement is a brilliant example of what our students can and do achieve with a Williams education.”
Mason, who is from Fort Collins, Colo., credited his childhood with fostering his interests in environmental justice and policy. “I grew up in Colorado, which is an interesting place, because there is such a spirit and love for nature and the outdoors — yet we’re a state with a lot of extractive industries,” he said. “I grew up in this space that felt really contradictory. I had always been interested in [the question], ‘If this is something that I love and something that my community loves, how are we simultaneously seeming to work against that?’”
This year, Mason is penning a thesis in environmental studies that examines how land use is negotiated in Aspen, Colo. — an area known for its ski resorts that is also regionally close to one of the largest oil and gas extraction zones in Colorado.
While a student at the College, Mason also worked on two projects at the Wylie Environmental Data Justice Lab at Northeastern University. Using FracFocus — a national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure registry — Mason tracked and aggregated trade secret claims with the goal of making them more accessible to researchers. His team’s findings will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Environmental Management.
In another project with the Wylie Lab, Mason helped develop environmental justice communication tools to elucidate the relationship between environmental privilege and disempowerment.
Through Oxford, Mason hopes to produce original research, while also ensuring that it impacts the communities he studies. “I’m hoping to get to produce some really creative scholarship, and then work with policymakers on how we can actually use this so that it’s not only read in an academic journal, but it’s actually implemented,” he said.
Though Rhodes Scholars are selected in part on the basis of academic excellence, it is “a critical but only threshold condition,” according to the press release. Rhodes recipients are also selected based on their ambition for social impact, commitment to service, and promise in leadership.
Outside of his studies, Mason serves as a co-captain of the men’s swim and dive team. He is a three-time NESCAC All-Academic honoree and was awarded NESCAC All-Conference in 2022 and All-Sportsmanship Team honors in 2023. As a member of the political science department’s Liaison Committee, he organized two alumni panels. He sings in the Williams Octet, for which he has served as president and business manager. Mason also served as a Junior Advisor (JA) to the Class of 2025 and a member of the JA Compensation Committee, which collected written feedback from JAs about the program and potential compensation for JAs to push the College towards its new compensation model beginning in the 2022–23 academic year. He additionally serves as co-president of the Class of 2023.
Mason expressed gratitude to his support systems for their backing throughout the application process. “The whole process … led to a lot of critical self-reflection on how grateful I am, particularly for my peers and professors, in getting me to this place,” he said.
