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Ruth Simmons
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Brown University president Ruth Simmons will address the issue of diversity in higher education in the second Columbia University Presidential Lecture of the academic year.
The lecture will be held in the rotunda of Low Library from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8. Registration is required. Please register for the lecture online or call (212) 870-2537 for more information.
A celebrated educator, Simmons is the first African American to lead an Ivy League institution. Prior to coming to Brown, she had served as president of Smith College, the largest women's college in the United States. Through her work at both of these institutions, she has achieved renown as a tireless campaigner on behalf of opening up higher education to disadvantaged minorities. At Smith, she launched an engineering program, the first at an American women's college.
"Ruth Simmons is one of the most admired and successful leaders in higher education today, as well as a dear colleague and friend," said Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger. "Her work at Brown University, in particular to address the complicated issues of diversity and their inextricable relationship to academic excellence, has been exceptional and has resonated at colleges and universities throughout the nation."
In addition to her diversity efforts, Simmons had been working to expand and strengthen Brown's faculty; increase financial support and resources for undergraduate, graduate and medical students; improve facilities; and renew a broad commitment to shared governance. These initiatives have led to a major investment of new resources in Brown's educational mission.
Simmons is the recipient of many honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship, the 2001 President's Award from the United Negro College Fund, the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal and the 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal. She has been a featured speaker in many public venues, including the White House, the World Economic Forum, the National Press Club and the American Council on Education. She has also delivered the Phi Beta Kappa Lecture at Harvard University. Her achievements in higher education have earned her nine honorary doctorates.
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