- During her
tenure, Ruth Simmons galvanized the campus through a number of
landmark initiatives.
The Simmons
Years
Read tributes
to Ruth Simmons from faculty, staff and students.
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An ''Extraordinary''
President, Another Historic Step
Ruth J. Simmons, whose 1995 appointment
as Smith's ninth president was hailed as a historic moment in
higher education, will leave Smith at the end of June to become
president of Brown University. The first African-American president
of a Seven Sisters college, Simmons now takes another historic
step as she becomes the first woman to be president of Brown
and the first African American to head an Ivy League institution.
Under
Simmons' leadership, Smith has forged ahead on a number of fronts.
Extensive developments in its programs and infrastructure have
greatly enriched students' experiences and raised standards for
quality and access to higher education nationwide. A committed
and outspoken advocate for diversity in higher education, Simmons
has worked to ensure that the high-quality education offered
at private colleges such as Smith is accessible to students from
all economic, racial and ethnic backgrounds.
"One of the reasons that Smith
is in such an enviable position today is that it has had extraordinary
presidents," Shelly Lazarus '68, chair of the Smith board
of trustees, observed. "Ruth Simmons has continued that
tradition. Her hard and enlightened work on behalf of the college
has ensured that Smith's future remains bright."
During her tenure at Smith, Simmons
galvanized the campus through an ambitious campuswide self-study
process that has resulted in a number of landmark initiatives:
- Praxis, a program that allows every
Smith student to select an internship funded by the college.
The program has funded almost one thousand summer internships
in its first two years.
- The Picker Program in Engineering
and Technology, the first undergraduate engineering program at
a women's college and one of very few at liberal arts colleges.
Now in its first full year, the program has attracted support
from the Ford Motor Company, the Institute of Women in Technology,
Hewlett-Packard, and Women in Technology International.
- Programs in the humanities, including
the establishment of a poetry center that has brought a number
of eminent poets to campus since its inception and Meridians,
a peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing outstanding scholarly
works by and about women of color.
- Curricular innovations that include
intensive seminars for first-year students and programs to encourage
students' speaking and writing skills.
- A target of opportunity program for
recruitment of minority faculty.
- Creation of the Campus Climate Working
Group, the ombudsperson's office and the Office of Institutional
Diversity to facilitate diversity efforts and reduce conflicts.
- The Kahn Institute, an innovative,
interdisciplinary program that encourages the interaction of
students, faculty and visiting scholars through intensive research
and other collaborations and enhances the intellectual life of
the college through symposia, performances, exhibitions and workshops.
- A reduction in the faculty teaching
load from 3-2 to 2-2.
- An increase in student financial aid.
- An overall increase in admission yields
and selectivity; minority applications have risen dramatically
and the current first-year class is one of the most diverse in
decades.
- A steady increase in gifts to the
college, notably among alumnae, parents, corporations and foundations.
A $250 million campaign is expected to reach its initial goal
two years ahead of schedule.
In addition, a number of significant
building projects have been launched during President Simmons'
administration:
- A $35-million expansion and renovation
of the college's fine arts center is currently under construction.
- Ground will be broken in the spring
of 2002 for a campus center.
- Plans are complete for a renovation
of the Lyman Conservatory, to be completed in the summer of 2002.
- A number of student residences and
athletic facilities have undergone significant renovations over
the past six years.
- New science facilities and refurbishing
of the Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts are well along
in the planning stages.
In a letter to students, faculty and
staff announcing her departure, Simmons said she has been "enormously
proud to lead the college during this exciting and productive
era."
"More than anything," she
said, "I have been touched by the warmth and affection of
the students and the collegiality of staff and faculty. I have
also appreciated the opportunity to get to know so many outstanding
alumnae as well as the many friends and supporters of Smith around
the country and the world. These associations have made this
experience an unforgettably moving and happy one for me."
Simmons will be feted in early May
at a Texas barbecue, hosted by the board of trustees, for students,
faculty and staff, and will be involved in all of the traditional
Commencement and reunion activities in May.
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