Ruth Simmons
Dr. Ruth J. Simmons 1945 - present
Ruth Simmons is a trailblazing educator with nerves of steel. When she was sworn in as Brown University’s 18th president in 2001, she became the first Black educator to lead an Ivy League institution as president. Simmons held this position for eleven years and under her direction Brown was propelled into a nationally renowned research institution. Before reaching the pinnacle of the academic world Simmons was a dedicated literature scholar.
After earning her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard, Simmons held different teaching and administrative positions at the following schools: University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College. This wide range of experience prepared Simmons for her appointment as president of the nation’s largest women’s college, Smith, in 1999. Most notable of Simmons’ tenure at Smith was overseeing the creation of the first engineering program at an American women’s college. Simmons was truly ahead of her time.
Simmons is the recipient of countless honors for her innovation in academia:
- Fulbright Fellowship to France
- 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund
- 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal
- 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal
- Foreign Policy Association Medal
- Centennial Medal from Harvard University
- Brown faculty’s highest honor: the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal
- In 2012, the president of France named her a ‘chevalier’ of the French Legion of Honor
While recounting her undergraduate experience at Dillard, Simmons shared with John Pope of the Times-Picayune:
“I came to believe that I had something to offer. Because Dillard was a small college with very close nurturing of students, I worked with dynamic teachers who instilled in me the belief that I had a mind that was interesting and strong and agile and capable of doing a lot of different things.”
Ruth Simmons’ interesting strong, agile, capable mind is responsible for leading several colleges and universities to greater levels of achievement.
