91��Ƭ�S�ϼ�

DALLAS () – Distinguished education leader Ruth Simmons, the first African American to lead an Ivy League institution, will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Letters degree from SMU at the University’s May 17 Commencement ceremony. Simmons has served as president of three colleges and is a President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University and senior adviser to the president of Harvard.

Simmons will participate in a symposium from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Friday, May 16 in the Taubman Atrium in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. The symposium, focusing on Simmons’ achievements, is free. Charlise Lyles, journalist, memoirist and Smith College graduate, will moderate the discussion.

Simmons’ degree will be presented at Commencement, which begins at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, in Moody Coliseum, 3009 Binkley Ave. Tickets to Commencement are not available, but the presentation of her degree will be included in the event’s live stream, available at SMU.edu/live.

A native Texan, Simmons began her academic career at Dillard University, later earning her PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. Before her first college president appointment, she served as a faculty member teaching French and as an administrator at the University of Southern California, Princeton University and Spelman College.

In 1995 she was named president of Smith College, the largest women’s college in the United States. At Smith, she started the first engineering program at a U.S. women’s college. Simmons became the first African American president of an Ivy League university when she became president of Brown University in 2001, where she served until 2012. Brown recently named its Ruth J. Simmons Center for Study of Slavery and Justice to honor her. She left retirement to become president of Prairie View A&M University, where she served until 2023.

“The Faculty Senate is delighted to recognize a Texas-born and raised educator who represents the very best qualities in a leader at multiple universities,” said David Sedman, president of SMU’s Faculty Senate and associate professor of film and media arts. “If there existed a University and College Presidential Hall of Fame, Dr. Simmons would be a first-ballot inductee.”

In her bestselling memoir, Up Home, One Girl’s Journey, (Random House, 2023) Simmons describes her life as the youngest of 12 children born to sharecropping parents in Grapeland, Texas. When she was six, her family moved to Houston’s predominantly black Fifth Ward, where they lived near the Hester Street Community Center. The resources and staff there were key influences in her life, along with teachers at her high school.

Simmons told The New York Times that she wrote the book for students who believe “there’s no way for them to become a part of the world they’re looking at through store windows.” The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Bloomberg and Black Entertainment Television rated her book one of the best of the year.

Simmons’ many honors include being named in 2012 a “chevalier” of the French Legion of Honor by the President of France and the 2023 presentation of the National Humanities Medal from President Joe Biden. She’s served on many nonprofit boards, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston. SMU is one of more than 40 universities that have presented her with an honorary degree.

“Dr. Simmons is a powerful example of a first-generation college student from Texas who has broken barriers and glass ceilings time and again in her career,” said Aria Cabot, director of SMU’s World Languages and Literatures Teaching and Technology Center and Simmons’ faculty nominator. “Her memoir offers an uplifting and impactful example for our graduates as they prepare to navigate life beyond the confines of our campus.”