MEDIA ADVISORY

Pioneering College President to Bring Message of Educational Persistence to Students at Atlanta Public High School

• When: 9 to 10:45 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 21
• Where: Benjamin E. Mays High School, 3450 Benjamin E. Mays Drive SW, Atlanta

Ruth J. Simmons, president of Smith College and president-elect of Brown University, will visit Benjamin E. Mays High School on Tuesday,
Nov. 21, to talk to students about the importance of education.

Simmons -- the daughter of Texas sharecroppers who became the first African American to head a Seven Sister college and, later, an Ivy League university -- will tour the school and then meet with some 50 sophomore, junior and senior girls in that school's media center to share insights from her own educational and career journeys.

Mays High School, located in the Boulder Park community in west Atlanta, serves 1,400 students in grades 9-12. A magnet school, Mays draws students from across Atlanta, through its emphasis on math and science.

Simmons, who assumed the Smith presidency in 1995, is a native of Texas, a Ph.D. graduate of Harvard University and a former vice provost at Princeton University. On Nov. 9, 2000, she was named to head Brown University, a post she will assume on July 1.

In the past several years, Simmons has spoken at the White House and to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the National Association of Engineers and Women in Technology International. She is a frequent visitor to inner-city high schools, having met with students in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Houston.

Smith College is consistently ranked among the nation's best liberal arts colleges. Enrolling 2,800 students from every state and 60 other countries, Smith is the largest private undergraduate women's college in the United States.

Contact: Laurie Fenlason, lfenlason@smith.edu, (413) 585-2190

November 16, 2000