Ruth Jean Simmons (born July 3, 1945 in Grapeland, Texas), is the 18th president of Brown University and the first black president of an Ivy League institution. Simmons was elected Brown's first woman president in November 2000. Simmons assumed office in fall of 2001. Simmons holds appointments as a professor in the Departments of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies. In 2002, Newsweek selected her as a Ms. Woman of the Year, while in 2001...
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Ruth Jean Simmons (born July 3, 1945 in Grapeland, Texas), is the 18th president of Brown University and the first black president of an Ivy League institution. Simmons was elected Brown's first woman president in November 2000. Simmons assumed office in fall of 2001. Simmons holds appointments as a professor in the Departments of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies. In 2002, Newsweek selected her as a Ms. Woman of the Year, while in 2001, Time named her as America's best college president.
According to a March 2009 poll by The Brown Daily Herald, Simmons enjoys a more than 80% approval rating among Brown undergraduates.
Simmons' salary is $775,715.
Simmons earned her bachelor's degree from Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1967 and earned her master's and doctorate in Romance literature from Harvard University in 1970 and 1973, respectively. She was a professor of Romance languages and became a dean at Princeton University from 1983 to 1990. She served as...
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