Education has the power to transform lives, and nowhere is that as evident as the storied career of educator Ruth J. Simmons.
The youngest of 12 children born to sharecropping parents in Grapeland, near Tyler in East Texas, Simmons, 78, made her way out of poverty and the segregation of the 1940s and ‘50s to become a champion for racial and gender inclusion at three colleges — including shattering glass ceilings at Brown University as the first black president of an an Ivy League school and as the first female president of Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black institution.
For her uncommon leadership and inspirational story, chronicled this year in her impressive memoir “Up Home: One Girl’s Journey,” Simmons is a finalist for 2023 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year.
Simmons’ academic achievements are testaments to the power of inspiration to depart from the social interactions that reinforce the idea that one should not dream big dreams. She acknowledges that could have been her lot in life but that the convergence of opportunity, support and her cherished aspirations opened doors that she proudly walked through. She became a voracious reader as a child and imagined a life beyond what Texas had to offer a young Black girl. As she was once quoted, “I came to understand the value of education, not just to enable me to make a good living, but to enable me to make a worthwhile life.”
Simmons’ climb in academia began with an undergraduate degree in 1967 from Dillard University and a doctoral degree in 1973 from Harvard. In 1995, Simmons became president of Smith College and established the first engineering school at a women’s college. She moved on to Brown University in 2001, drawing the attention of Time magazine, which lauded her as the “Campus Crusader” and “moral compass of the school she governs” for strategically recruiting Black students from poor and disadvantaged communities to diversify the student body.
In 2017, Simmons returned to Texas to lead Prairie View A&M, where students nicknamed the no-nonsense educator Ruth the Truth. On Simmons’ watch, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $50 million to the school, instantly increasing the school’s endowment by 40%.
Simmons left Prairie View earlier this year after a clash with A&M University System leadership over hiring procedures. She’s a President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University, which recently surprised her with a $1 million scholarship in her name, and she sits on a presidential advisory board on historically Black colleges and universities. Her legacy carries on with the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, a scholarly research center at Brown University, and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice at Prairie View, which highlights racial equality issues.
Simmons’ legacy is as a trailblazer whose life story can inspire students to throw off obstacles and become their best selves.
We are announcing our Texan of the Year finalists in a countdown to naming the 2023 honoree on Sunday, Dec. 31. You can follow all of the finalists as they are published at dallasnews.com/opinion/texanoftheyear.
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