President Joe Biden presented former University President Ruth J. Simmons with the National Humanities Medal, an annual recognition of leaders in the humanities, during an Oct. 21 White House ceremony.
Simmons made history as the first African American woman president of an Ivy League institution when she served as Brown’s 18th president from 2001-2012. Simmons’ tenure at Brown and her work supporting equity in higher education were highlighted in a White House press release detailing honorees’ achievements.
“As President Biden was placing the medal around my neck during the ceremony in the Oval Office, I couldn’t avoid reflecting on my beginnings in poverty in pre-civil rights America,” Simmons wrote in an email to The Herald. “My journey reminds me daily to encourage young people to believe in the role they can play in bringing about positive change.”
While at Brown, Simmons kickstarted an initiative to uncover the University’s historical ties to slavery, culminating in the 2006 Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The report inspired other universities to pursue similar initiatives. In recognition of Simmons’ legacy, Brown created the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, a research center created as a result of the report.
After her tenure at Brown, she was named as the president of Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black college in Texas, until she resigned last year.
Today, Simmons serves as senior advisor to Harvard’s president on engagement with historically Black colleges and universities. She is also a President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University.
“You’ve all broken barriers, you’ve blazed new trails and you’ve redefined culture,” Biden said to the honorees, according to a University press release. “Above all, you are the masters of your craft that have made us a better America with all you have done.”
Simmons wrote that she was surprised and honored by the recognition.
“I am ever grateful to those who rejected hatred, division and exploitation to imagine a different future for children like me,” she added.
