Ruth Simmons

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Ruth Simmons : biography

July 3, 1945 –

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. ALAN FINDER, January 8, 2007, The New York Times.

In August 2007, President 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. Press Release from Brown University, August 15, 2007.

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, remaining at Brown as a professor of comparative literature and Africana studies.

Transnational initiatives at Brown

President Simmons has made internationalization a strategic priority for Brown to better prepare its students for the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly interconnected world. She currently leads an ambitious international agenda that seeks to ensure that Brown students are well prepared for lives and careers that will increasingly have an international dimension; to enable the University effectively to compete for the best students and faculty available for transnational scholarly collaborations; to enhance Brown’s position in addressing global problems; to provide transnational professional development opportunities to young leaders educated at Brown; and to undertake strong dialog with peer institutions in other countries.

As the wealth that the founding Brown family contributed to the university was based in part on the triangular slave trade, in 2003 Simmons established the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice to examine this complex history and make recommendations for how the university might approach the relevant issues. from Brown University The New Yorker, September 12, 2005, p. 68. The was subsequently published. On February 16, 2007 at an event celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 and the prominent involvement of Cambridge University alumni William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and William Pitt the Younger, Simmons delivered a lecture at St. John’s College, Cambridge entitled . Anti-Slavery Conference at St John’s College, February 2007 Also in February 2007, Brown University published its official following completion of the historic inquiry undertaken by the committee appointed by President Simmons. The bicentenary of the British abolition of the slave trade was also commemorated at Oxford University, notably at Rhodes House.Oxford Today,

In October 2007, Simmons appointed David W. Kennedy, the former Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law at Harvard Law School as vice president for international affairs. In addition to supporting the leadership of the Watson Institute for International Studies, the new university officer will lead a multidisciplinary advanced research project in the field of global law, governance and social thought to strengthen the University’s international work in the social sciences. Press Release on International Affairs from Brown University, October 13, 2007.

As an additional element of President Simmons’ leadership of Brown’s international efforts, Brown and Banco Santander of Spain inaugurated an annual series of International Advanced Research Institutes to convene a rising generation of scholars from emerging and developing countries at Brown in a signing ceremony on November 13, 2008, at the John Hay Library between Brown provost David Kertzer and Emilio Botin, chairman of Banco Santander. As noted by President Simmons: "To be at the forefront of research today means being in conversation with global peers. The Brown Institutes provide exciting opportunities to encounter new ideas, build collegial relationships and enrich faculty development for young scholars and teachers from around the world."

In March 2010, President Simmons traveled to India as part of a major program called the Year of India which is dedicated to the improvement of understanding of Indian history, politics, education and culture among Brown students and faculty. Live Mint, March 30, 2010. Brown University’s Year of India.

President Simmons has been invited to participate in meetings of global leaders organized by the Clinton Global Initiative and the World Economic Forum at Davos.

Academic positions

Simmons first positions in academic administration were at the University of Southern California, starting in 1979 as assistant dean of graduate studies, and then as associate dean of graduate studies. She was a professor of Romance languages and became a dean at Princeton University from 1983 to 1990. She served as provost at Spelman College from 1990 to 1992.