Ivy League Trailblazer Ruth Simmons Looks Back at Brown Presidency

Ivy League Trailblazer Ruth Simmons Looks Back at Brown Presidency: Ruth Simmons made a big news splash a decade ago when she was named president of Brown University, making her the first Black president of an Ivy League institution. She made another splash three years later by naming a committee to investigate Brown’s role in the slave trade and to make recommendations on possible reparations.

Reflecting on her tenure as she prepares to retire in June, Simmons, 66, does not mention her historic appointment in 2000 or the daring “Slavery and Justice” report among her most significant accomplishments as president of the prestigious university in Providence, R.I. Instead, her top three are Brown’s full adoption of need-blind admissions, 20 percent growth in the number of faculty, and a new second campus, where expanded laboratory space has increased the flow of federal research dollars.