Simmons was subsequently named the 8th president in December 2017 and formally inaugurated on April 20, 2018 in a spectacular ceremony with thunderous applause and loud cheers in the university's football stadium.
In selecting Simmons, John Sharp, Chancellor for the Texas A&M University System quipped, “We are fortunate to have such a high-caliber scholar and administrator who can step in without missing a beat. Dr. Simmons has been an important figure on the national stage for decades and with the credentials to be the president of any university in America. I am so excited to have her join us.”
In taking on the position, Simmons came out of a five year of retirement having served as president of Brown University from 2001-2012. Under her leadership, Brown made significant strides in improving its standing as one of the world’s finest research universities.
Simmons said she only agreed to the job if the system made clear that she was taking it temporarily — she won't be the permanent hire "because I am old and I'm retired." Simmsons stated that she is not going to be interim-like neither do I plan to be a placeholder. "I am coming into the position with great ambition and a willingness to take on the big projects. Just be mindful that I would take a position just to twiddle my thumbs. If I am going to be lazy, I would rather that be on my own time," she concluded."
Since joining Prairie View A&M University, Dr. Simmons has sought to move the university on the national scene with a focus on excellence in academics and student development and faculty enhancement with research and teaching across the spectrum and embracing the Prairie View A&M alumni. Part of that program include the establishment of the African American Studies program and the proposed Center for Racial Justice. She has restructured the office of development and fundraising, hired am alumni director and established the office of community engagement.
Her commitment to these ventures has garnered national financial support from the Mellon Foundation to support the faculty of some $500K and $1Million from H.E.B. for Racial Justice. Simmons was also fortunate to convince Dr. Melanye Price, PVAMU Alumnus, and professor at Rutgers University to return to her alma mater as an endowed professor to lead both programs.
A French professor before entering university administration, President Simmons held an appointment as a Professor of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies at Brown. After completing her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard, she served in various faculty and administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College before becoming president of Smith College, the largest women’s college in the United States. At Smith, she launched a number of important academic initiatives, including an engineering program, the first at an American women’s college.
Simmons is the recipient of many honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship to France, the 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, the 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the Foreign Policy Association Medal, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Centennial Medal from Harvard University; Awarded numerous honorary degrees, she received the Brown Faculty’s highest honor: the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal in 2011. In 2012, she was named a ‘chevalier’ of the French Legion of Honor.
Simmons is a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the boards of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and is the president of the Holdsworth Center Board of Directors. She was recently appointed to the Board of the Houston Branch of the Dallas Federal Reserves.
BTW - July 3 is her birthday - say Happy Birthday to President Simmons too.
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