Office Staff

Jason Rojas M’12

Chief of Staff, Associate Vice President for External Affairs
860-297-4166
[email protected]

Jason Rojas serves as the president’s chief of staff and associate vice president for external affairs, with primary responsibilities of administering the Office of the President at Trinity College. Jason’s responsibilities include coordination of the president’s senior management team and meetings of the President’s Cabinet. Additional key duties include arranging/managing the president’s schedule and travel arrangements; supporting the president’s speaking engagements; assisting the president’s fundraising efforts; maintaining effective relationships with both internal and external constituencies; interacting on a regular basis with trustees of the College, alumni, faculty and staff, students, and others; and serving as a liaison between the College and the Hartford community while encouraging collaboration between Trinity College and many of its community partners.

In addition to his duties at Trinity, Jason is a member of the Connecticut General Assembly representing the Ninth Assembly District (East Hartford and Manchester) in the Connecticut House of Representatives. In 2021 he was elected by his colleagues to serve as Majority Leader after serving as House Chairperson of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee and the Planning and Development Committee. Jason has also served as a deputy majority leader and co-chairperson of the House Screening Committee. He has also served on the Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee and the Education Committee. A lifelong resident of East Hartford, Rojas attended East Hartford Public Schools and was the first in his family to graduate from college, earning a B.A. in history from the University of Connecticut and an M.A. in public policy from Trinity College.

Jason serves on the Board of Directors of the East Hartford Alumni Association and Education Foundation, the Manchester Community College Foundation and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut Historical Society. He is a former member of the East Hartford Town Council and Board of Education as well as the New England Association of Schools & Colleges Commission on Public Secondary Schools.

Dickens Mathieu

General Counsel and Secretary of the College
860-297-2253
[email protected]

Dickens “Deke” Mathieu is the general counsel and secretary of the College for Trinity College. As general counsel, Deke provides legal advice and counsel to Trinity College’s Board of Trustees and to the College leadership, covering the full breadth of legal and compliance issues that abound in higher education today, including personnel matters, faculty affairs, student affairs, litigation, and Title IX, to name a few. As secretary of the College, Deke provides advice and support to the Trinity College Board of Trustees, and facilitates the work of board members in discharging their fiduciary duties to the College.

Deke has over two decades of legal experience in higher education, private law firm practice, and public service. He previously served as general counsel for Syracuse University and senior legal counsel for Tufts University. He worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston, MA, in the Criminal Division, prosecuting narcotics trafficking and money laundering. He began his legal career in 1993 at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, in Washington, D.C.

Deke earned a B.A. in political science from Amherst College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He is active in the National Association of College and University Attorneys; is a founding director of Discovering Justice, The James D. St. Clair Court Education Project; and is a life member and former director of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association.