At Brown, Ruth J Simmons made history becoming the first Black president of an Ivy League institution in 2001. Ruth Simmons has been a pillar of education and paving the way for women in education and advocating for diversity. She has truly been an inspiration to many.
Growing up in the segregated south, she faced discrimination and racism first hand. Living in poverty, she faced many hardships in her early life, but even so, nothing stopped her from becoming a changemaker in the future. Born in 1945, she was one of twelve children born into a sharecropping family in rural Texas. Simmons went on to attend Dillard University for her bachelor degree and would later receive her masters and doctorate from Harvard University; she was by no means defined by her difficult upbringing and worked to achieve greatness. Simmons has transformed the world of education, striving for excellence and equality. Simmons has been a president and professor at multiple other universities and has made a huge impact on education. In her distinguished career, she has gone to be named to the White House HBCU Advisory Board by President Biden, named the chevalier of the French Legion of Honor by the French president, and received the National Humanities Medal.Â
After becoming President of Brown, Simmons achieved strides in building diversity, improved the financial aid system, and advanced academic programs. She led the movement for the historical accountability of the university, introducing the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown. The creation of the the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice led investigations into Browns history and connection to the transatlantic slave trade. In 2006, the committee published the Slavery and Justice Report which explained browns connection to the slave trade and revealed the early founders of the university were part of the trade. The report was the beginning of her approach to take accountability for the earlier injustices connected to Brown. This led to the establishment of a memorial, creation of a center for ongoing research on slavery and justice, and other educational programs. Thanks to Simmons, Brown became the first university to create a report acknowledging its past ties to slavery. This made way for more initiatives such as this around the U.S and helped to heal the universities past harms. In 2011, she received the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal, one of Brown University’s greatest honors for faculty. Ruth Simmons was able to bring a wave of transformation to education and encouraged accountability, starting discussions typically avoided. She is a proud reflection of the school and its values, inspiring students in our community to become leaders, visionary’s, and facilitators of change such as Simmons has done through her life and at Brown.