Ruth Simmons
Ruth J. Simmons ( born July 3, 1945 in Grapeland, Texas) is an American Romance languages , high school teacher, since 2001 President of Brown University, and thus the first African-American President of the University one of the elite universities in the so-called Ivy League.
Biography
Ruth Simmons is a great-granddaughter of slaves who grew up the youngest of twelve children on a farm, and studied post-school at Dillard University in New Orleans. She graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts. A subsequent post-graduate studies at Princeton University, she finished 1970 with a Master of Arts, before a Philosophiae Doctor ( Ph.D. ) acquired in 1973 in the trade Romance Literature at Harvard University.
In 1983, she accepted an appointment as professor of Romance languages at Princeton University. She taught there until her appointment as Provost of Spelman College in Georgia in 1990. 1992 she was Vice - Provost of Princeton University before she served from 1995 to 2001 as President of Smith College in Northampton (Massachusetts ).
In addition, she has worked in the private sector between 1997 and 2007 and was a director of Pfizer. In 1999 she was beyond the board of Texas Instruments. It is also since 2000 Member of the Board of Goldman Sachs
On October 14, 2001 Ruth Simmons was the successor of Gordon Gee President of Brown University in Providence, while Gee again became chancellor of Vanderbilt University. As president, she initiated an ambitious program to fundraising to improve the funding of Brown University ( Boldly Brown: The Campaign for Academic Enrichment ). As a target, the sum of 1.4 billion U.S. $ was configured. In 2005, Simmons was the entrepreneur and former Brown student Sidney Frank persuaded to donate 120 million U.S. $ for academic programs and scholarships at Brown. In 2007, the entrepreneur Warren Alpert donated 100 million U.S. $. To him, the Brown Medical School was renamed The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in honor. In a press release dated 22 May 2009, the University Chancellor Thomas J. table announced that the target of $ 1.4 billion donations had been reached even before the original target date, December 31, 2010.
Ruth Simmons is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Trust Board of the Carnegie Corporation and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2004, she supported Carol Moseley Braun in their unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. Besides her numerous honorary doctorates were awarded.