Ruth J. Simmons, a three-time college president, is this year’s recipient of the Radcliffe Medal from Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Awarded annually since 1987, the Radcliffe Medal recognizes an individual who embodies the institute’s commitment to excellence and impact.
“Throughout her distinguished career, Ruth J. Simmons has modeled extraordinary and transformative leadership in higher education,” reads a statement from Harvard Radcliffe Institute. “A three-time university president who has shaped generations of students and scholars, Simmons has championed the power of education while calling on colleges and universities to uphold their foundational ideals and reckon honestly with their failures. She has advanced principled positions rooted in her vision of the role universities can play in society, demonstrating an uncommon steadfastness in the face of daunting pressures. She truly embodies her student-given nickname, ‘Ruth the Truth.’”
After two decades of service as a faculty member and administrator with several higher education institutions throughout the country, Dr. Simmons was named president of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1995. She led the women’s college for six years until her appointment as the eighteenth president of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, making her the first African American woman to lead an Ivy League school. She retired from Brown in 2012.
Five years later, Dr. Simmons came out of retirement to serve as interim president of Prairie View A&M University in Texas. She soon became the university’s permanent president and served in that capacity until 2023. Since that time, Dr. Simmons has served as a President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University in Houston, as well as a senior adviser to the president of Harvard University on engagement with historically Black colleges and universities.
A native of Houston, Dr. Simmons is a graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans and holds a Ph.D. in Romance languages and literatures from Harvard University.