Ruth Simmons

Simmons was born in Grapeland, Texas, the last of 12 children of Fanny (née Campbell) and Isaac Stubblefield.[8][9] Her father was a sharecropper, until the family moved to Houston during her school years. Her paternal grandfather descends partly from the Benza and Kota people, slaves from Gabon,[10][11] while her maternal line is traced back to the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean[12] who were enslaved by the Spaniards.

She earned her bachelor's degree, on scholarship, from Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1967. She went on to earn her master's and doctorate in Romance literature from Harvard University in 1970 and 1973, respectively.

Simmons was an assistant professor of French at the University of New Orleans from 1973-1976 and Assistant Dean of the UNO College of Liberal Arts from 1975–76. She moved to California State University, Northridge in 1977 as administrative coordinator of its NEH Liberal Studies Project. From 1978–79, she was acting director of CSU-Northridge's International Programs and visiting associate professor of Pan-African Studies.[13]

Simmons moved to the University of Southern California in 1979 as assistant dean of graduate studies, and then as associate dean of graduate studies.[14] She moved to Princeton University in 1983 and served as assistant dean of faculty and then associate dean of faculty from 1986 to 1990. Simmons served as provost at Spelman College from 1990 to 1991 and returned to Princeton as its vice provost from 1992 to 1995.[13]

In 1995 Simmons became the first African-American woman to head a major college or university[15] when she was selected as president of Smith College, which she led until 2001. As president of Smith College, Simmons started the first engineering program in a U.S. woman's college.[16]

Simmons became president of Brown in October 2001, succeeding Gordon Gee. At Brown, she completed a $1.4 billion initiative - the largest in Brown's history - known as Boldly Brown: The Campaign for Academic Enrichment in order to enhance Brown's academic programs. In 2004, former Brown student Sidney E. Frank made the largest aggregate monetary contribution to Brown in its history in the amount of $120 million. The Frank gifts were principally devoted to scholarship assistance to Brown students and to Brown's programs in the sciences.[17]

By early 2007, philanthropist Warren Alpert made a similarly generous contribution to strengthen the programs of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in the amount of $100 million, matching the core portion of the Sidney Frank gift to Brown. As reported in a May 22, 2009, press release, Brown chancellor Thomas J. Tisch announced early accomplishment of the $1.4 billion fundraising campaign and the continued pursuit of specific subsidiary goals in support of endowments for student scholarships, the Brown faculty and internationalization programs through the originally planned campaign completion date of December 31, 2010.[18]

In a 2006 orientation meeting with parents, Simmons denied interest in the presidency of Harvard University, which at the time was headed by an interim president, Derek Bok. Nevertheless, a 2007 New York Times article, featuring a photograph of Simmons, reported that the Harvard Corporation, responsible for selecting the university's replacement for former president Lawrence Summers, had been given a list of "potential candidates" that included her name.[19]

In August 2007, Simmons was invited to deliver the 60th Annual Reading of the historic 1790 George Washington Letter to Touro Synagogue at the Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island in response to Moses Seixas on the subject of religious pluralism.[20]

In September 2011, Simmons announced that she would step down from her position as Brown President at the end of the 2011–12 academic year, originally saying she would remain at Brown as a professor of comparative literature and Africana studies. She was succeeded as Brown President on June 30, 2012, by Christina Paxson.[21]

• Simmons is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She has served as chair of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents and is an honorary fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge.[34]

• Simmons serves on the boards of Texas Instruments and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. She announced in 2007 that she would not seek re-election to the board of directors of Pfizer after serving on the board for 10 years.[35]

• In 2000, Simmons received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[36]

• On June 17, 2009, The White House announced that President Barack Obama had appointed Dr. Simmons to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships.[37]

• In February 2010, Simmons received a BET Honors award for her service as president of Brown University.

• In 2010, she was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her many humanitarian efforts.[38]

• Amherst College
• Bard College
• Baylor College of Medicine
• Boston University
• Brown University
• Columbia University
• Dartmouth College
• Dillard University
• Ewha Womans University
• George Washington University
• Harvard University
• University of Houston
• Howard University
• Lake Forest College
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Morehouse College
• Mount Holyoke College
• New York University
• Northeastern University
• University of Oxford
• University of Pennsylvania
• Princeton University
• Providence College
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Rhode Island School of Design
• University of Rochester
• Smith College
• Spelman College
• University of Southern California
• University of Toronto
• Tougaloo College
• Union College
• University of Vermont
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Wesleyan University[39]

• Ruth J. Simmons: 2001–2012— Office of the President, Brown University
• "Ruth Simmons". Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America