Dr. Ruth Simmons to be Inaugurated as Prairie View’s 8th President

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Higher education trailblazer Dr. Ruth J. Simmons will be inaugurated as the 8th president of Prairie View A&M University today. She is the first female president in Prairie View A&M’s history.

“I could not be more excited that Dr. Simmons has joined the Texas A&M System family,” said Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp. “She is known throughout the country for being a the quintessential university leader, and I am confident that she will lead Prairie View A&M into an era of tremendous achievement.”

Dr. Simmons is accustomed to breaking down barriers. Previously in her career, she served as the first black president of Smith College. After a successful tenure, she was tapped to lead Brown University, becoming the first-ever black president of an Ivy League institution. In 2001, Time magazine called her America’s “best college president.”

This video provides a brief introduction to Dr. Simmons and her new role at Prairie View A&M: https://chancellor.tamus.edu/videos/.

Many prominent individuals have traveled to Prairie View to mark this occasion. Today’s inauguration ceremony will feature remarks from School of the Art Institute of Chicago President Dr. Walter Massey, U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, and notable scholars Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Dr. Marta Tienda, among others.

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $4.55 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities and seven state agencies, the Texas A&M System educates more than 152,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $972 million in FY 2016 and helped drive the state’s economy.

Contact: Laylan Copelin
Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
(979) 458-6425
(512) 289-2782 cell
lcopelin@tamus.edu