Ruth Simmons
Ruth Simmons (born Ruth Jean Stubblefield,[1][2] July 3, 1945) is an American professor and academic administrator. Simmons served as the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University, a HBCU, from 2017 until 2023. From 2001 to 2012, she served as the 18th president of Brown University, where she was the first African American president of an Ivy League institution. While there, Simmons was named best college president by Time magazine. Before Brown University, she headed Smith College, one of the Seven Sisters and the largest women's college in the United States, beginning in 1995. There, during her presidency, the first accredited program in engineering was started at an all-women's college.
Ruth Simmons
George Wright
Tomikia P. LeGrande
Norbert Alonzo
2
Romance literature
A professor of literature in the Romance languages, in 2017, Simmons was called out of retirement to head Prairie View in her home state of Texas, where she increased scholarships and funding. She stepped down as president there in 2023.[3][4][5] She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society (1997), an honorary fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.
In February 2023, Simmons announced plans to advise Harvard University regarding relationships with historically black universities (HBCUs).[6] As of 2023, Simmons is also a President's Distinguished Fellow at Rice University.[7]
Early life and education[edit]
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[10] until the family moved to Houston during her school years. Her paternal grandfather descends partly from the Benza and Kota people, enslaved people from Gabon,[11][12] while her maternal line is traced back to the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean[13] who were enslaved by the Spaniards.
While in school, one of her teachers,Vernell Lillie, talked to her about attending college, something she had never considered before.[14] She earned her bachelor's degree, on scholarship, from Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1967. She earned her master's and a doctorate in Romance literature from Harvard University in 1970 and 1973, respectively.[15]
Career[edit]
Early academic positions[edit]
Simmons was an assistant professor of French at the University of New Orleans (UNO) from 1973 to 1976 and Assistant Dean of the UNO's College of Liberal Arts from 1975 to 1976. She moved to California State University, Northridge in 1977, as administrative coordinator of its NEH Liberal Studies Project. From 1978 to 1979, she was acting director of CSU-Northridge's International Programs and visiting associate professor of Pan-African Studies.[16]
Simmons moved to the University of Southern California in 1979 as assistant dean of graduate studies and later as associate dean of graduate studies.[17] In 1983, she moved to Princeton University 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.[16]
Smith College presidency[edit]
In 1995, Simmons was selected as president of Smith College, which she led until 2001. As president of Smith College, Simmons started the first engineering program at a U.S. woman's college.[18]