HOUSTON – Ruth Simmons will join Rice University as a President’s Distinguished Fellow, the university announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes after Simmons, who is currently the president of Prairie View A&M University, said Friday she will resign at the end of February, four months earlier than her expected resignation date of June 1.
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Simmons, who is also a Rice trustee emerita that served on the board from 2014 to 2018, will work with a variety of programs across campus and advise the president’s office on various matters, in addition to collaborating with faculty and staff to build out programs for students to develop future leaders at Rice, the university’s website said. Her start date is April 1.
“Ruth brings with her a myriad of insights from her career as a faculty member, university president and national leader in higher education,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said. “Often cited as one of the most consequential higher education leaders of this generation, and one of the most important and compelling local and national leaders, Ruth has served numerous universities, corporations and nonprofit organizations in an advisory capacity. I am grateful and excited that she will continue her broad and impactful outreach from her position at Rice.”
Simmons was named Brown’s president in 2001, making her the first Black woman to lead an Ivy League institution. She is a former director of African American studies at Princeton University and past chair of the Harvard University Visiting Committee for African-American Studies, and in 2003 she led the Slavery and Justice Initiative at Brown. She will provide input on the development of Rice’s Center for African and African American Studies, the university said.