Ruth Simmons | |
|---|---|
 Simmons in 2001 | |
| 8th President ofPrairie View A&M University | |
| In office July 1, 2017 – February 28, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | George Wright |
| Succeeded by | Tomikia P. LeGrande |
| 18thPresident of Brown University | |
| In office October 14, 2001 – June 30, 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Gordon Gee |
| Succeeded by | Christina Paxson |
| 9th President ofSmith College | |
| In office 1995–2001 | |
| Preceded by | Mary Maples Dunn |
| Succeeded by | Carol T. Christ |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ruth Jean Stubblefield (1945-07-03)July 3, 1945 (age 80) |
| Spouse | Norbert Alonzo |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Dillard University (BA) Harvard University (MA,PhD) |
| Academic background | |
| Thesis | The poetic language of Aime Cesaire (1973) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Romance literature |
| Institutions | |
Ruth Simmons (bornRuth Jean Stubblefield,[1] July 3, 1945) is an American professor andacademic administrator. Simmons served as the eighth president ofPrairie View A&M University, a historically Black university (HBCU), from 2017 until 2023.[2][3][4] From 2001 to 2012, she served as the 18th president ofBrown University, where she was the firstAfrican-American president of anIvy League institution. During her time at Brown, Simmons was named the best college president byTime magazine. Prior to Brown University, she headedSmith College, one of theSeven Sisters and the largestwomen's college in theUnited States, beginning in 1995. During her tenure, Smith College launched the first accredited engineering program at an all-women's college.
Simmons is a professor of literature specializing in theRomance languages. As of 2017, Simmons is a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, theAmerican Philosophical Society (1997), an honorary fellow ofSelwyn College, Cambridge, and aChevalier of theFrench Legion of Honor.
In February 2023, Simmons announced her plans to adviseHarvard University on fostering relationships withhistorically black universities (HBCUs).[5] As of April 2023, Simmons serves as a President's Distinguished Fellow atRice University.[6]
Simmons was born inGrapeland,Texas. She is the last of 12 children of Fanny (née Campbell) and Isaac Stubblefield.[7][8] Her father was asharecropper[9] up until the family moved to Houston during her school years. Her paternal grandfather descends partly from the Benza andKota people, enslaved people fromGabon,[10][11] while her maternal line is traced back to theindigenous peoples of America.[12]
While in school, one of her teachers, Vernell Lillie, talked to her about attending college, something she had never considered before.[13] She earned herbachelor's degree, on scholarship, fromDillard University inNew Orleans,Louisiana, in 1967. She earned hermaster's and adoctorate inRomance literature fromHarvard University in 1970 and 1973, respectively.[14]
Simmons was an assistant professor of French at theUniversity of New Orleans (UNO) from 1973 to 1976 and assistant dean of UNO's College of Liberal Arts from 1975 to 1976. She moved toCalifornia State University, Northridge in 1977 as administrative coordinator of itsNEH Liberal Studies Project. From 1978 to 1979, she was acting director of California State University, Northridge's International Programs and visiting associate professor of Pan-African Studies.[15]
Simmons moved to theUniversity of Southern California in 1979 as assistant dean of graduate studies and later as associate dean of graduate studies.[16] In 1983, she moved toPrinceton University and served as assistant dean of faculty, and later as associate dean of faculty from 1986 to 1990. Simmons served as provost atSpelman College from 1990 to 1991 and returned to Princeton, where she served as vice provost from 1992 to 1995.[15]
In 1995, Simmons was selected as president ofSmith College, which she led until 2001. As president of Smith College, Simmons started the first engineering program at a U.S. woman's college.[17]
In November 2000, Simmons was named as the firstAfrican-American woman to head an Ivy League school.[18][19] She officially assumed office in October 2001, succeedingGordon Gee. She also held appointments as a professor in the departments of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies. In 2002,Ms. magazine named her a Woman of the Year; in 2001,Time named her as America's best college president.[20]
At Brown, she launched a $1.4 billion initiative known asBoldly Brown: The Campaign for Academic Enrichment to enhance Brown's academic programs. The campaign would surpass its original goal, raising $1.61 billion.[21] In 2004, former Brown studentSidney E. Frank made the largest aggregate monetary contribution to Brown in its history in the amount of $120 million.[22]
In 2007, philanthropistWarren Alpert made a similar contribution to strengthen the programs ofThe Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in the amount of $100 million. As reported in a May 22, 2009 press release, Brown ChancellorThomas J. Tisch announced the early attainment of the $1.6 billion fundraising campaign and the continued pursuit of specific subsidiary goals in support of endowments for student scholarships of the Brown faculty and internationalization programs through the originally planned campaign to be continued through December 31, 2010.[23]
In 2006, during an orientation meeting with parents, Simmons denied interest in the presidency ofHarvard University, headed at the time by interim presidentDerek Bok. Nevertheless, a 2007New York Times article, featuring a photograph of Simmons, reported that theHarvard Corporation, responsible for selecting the university's replacement for former presidentLawrence Summers, had been given a list of "potential candidates" that included her name.[24]
In August 2007, Simmons was invited to deliver the 60th Annual Reading of the historic 1790George WashingtonLetter to Touro Synagogue at theSynagogue inNewport, Rhode Island, in response toMoses Seixas on religious pluralism.[25] According to a March 2009 poll byThe Brown Daily Herald, Simmons had more than an 80% approval rating among Brown undergraduates.[26]
In September 2011, Simmons announced that she would step down from her position as President of Brown at the end of the 2011–12 academic year, initially saying she would remain at Brown as a professor of comparative literature and Africana studies. She was succeeded as the President of Brown on June 30, 2012, byChristina Paxson.[27]
Simmons earned annual compensations of more than $300,000 fromGoldman Sachs (on top of her annual salary from Brown of more than $500,000), while serving on the Goldman board of directors during the2008 financial crisis; in addition, she left the Goldman board (which she had joined in 2000) in 2009 with more than $4.3 million in Goldman stock.[28][29] During her term on Goldman's board, she also served on the compensation committee of Goldman's ten-person board, which decided how large Goldman executives' post-crash bonuses would be: these bonuses included a $68 million bonus for the company's chairman and CEO,Lloyd C. Blankfein, in 2007, and a $9 million bonus in 2009, after Goldman received money in the federal TARP bailout.[28][29] The revelations of Simmons's role received intense criticism from both alumni and students with a then-sophomore stating that Simmons's actions "brought shame on the university."[28] Simmons was cited in the 2010 filmInside Job, as an example of the conflicts of interest between university economics departments and deregulation of financial institutions.[30]
In 2003, Simmons established theUniversity Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. In 2006, theReport of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice was published, examining the university's complex history with thetransatlantic slave trade.[31][32][33] On February 16, 2007, at an event celebrating the 200th anniversary of the passage of theSlave Trade Act 1807 and the involvement ofCambridge University alumniWilliam Wilberforce,Thomas Clarkson andWilliam Pitt the Younger, Simmons delivered a lecture atSt. John's College, Cambridge, entitledHidden in Plain Sight: Slavery and Justice in Rhode Island.[34] Also in February 2007, Brown University published its officialResponse to the Report of the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice following the completion of the inquiry undertaken by the committee appointed by Simmons.[35]
In October 2007, Simmons appointedDavid W. Kennedy, as vice president for international affairs.[36] Brown andBanco Santander ofSpain inaugurated an annual series of International Advanced Research Institutes to convene younger scholars from emerging and developing countries at Brown in a signing ceremony on November 13, 2008, at theJohn Hay Library between Brown provostDavid Kertzer andEmilio Botin, chairman of Banco Santander.[37] In March 2010, Simmons traveled to India as part of a program called the Year of India, dedicated to improving the understanding of Indian history, politics, education, and culture among Brown students and faculty.[38][39]
On September 15, 2011, Simmons announced that she would retire from the Brown presidency at the end of the academic year, June 30, 2012.[40]
In 2017, after five years of retirement, Simmons accepted an offer to serve as the interim president ofPrairie View A&M University, anHBCU in her home state ofTexas. She served as interim president from July 1, 2017 to December 3, 2017.[41] On December 4, 2017, she was selected as the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University, becoming the first woman to do so.[42][43]
At Prairie View A&M, Simmons focused her efforts on improving the university's financial stability, particularly on fundraising through an anonymous donor for thePanther Success Grants for undergraduates. Her vision for the university was to "ensure that Prairie View A&M University sustains excellence in teaching, research, and service for another 140-plus years...we will raise funds in a new and vital way so that the University will have the flexibility it needs to advance and make more visible its reach."[9][44] On March 11, 2022, Simmons announced that she would retire from her role as president when the university named her successor.[2]
In 2022, Prairie View A&M announced that scholarships had increased and donations to the university had grown by 40% during Simmons’ 5-year presidency.[4]
She plans to begin in the role April 1.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | 9th President ofSmith College 1995–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | 18thPresident of Brown University 2001–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | 8th President ofPrairie View A&M University 2017–2023 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
