Smith College
What was the name of the employer Ruth Simmons work for between Mar 1998 and Jul 1999?
Ruth Simmons Ruth Simmons ( born Ruth Jean Stubblefield ; July 3 , 1945 ) is an American professor and academic administrator . She is the current President of Prairie View A&M University , a historically black university . Simmons previously served as the 18th president of Brown University from 2001 to 2012 , where she was the first African American president of an Ivy League institution . Prior to Brown , she headed Smith College , one of the Seven Sisters and the largest womens college in the United States , beginning in 1995 . On December 4 , 2017 , she was officially named the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University . Early life and education . Simmons was born in Grapeland , Texas , the last of 12 children of Fanny ( née Campbell ) and Isaac Stubblefield . Her father was a sharecropper , until the family moved to Houston during her school years . Her paternal grandfather descends partly from the Benza and Kota people , slaves from Gabon , while her maternal line is traced back to the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean who were enslaved by the Spaniards . She earned her bachelors degree , on scholarship , from Dillard University in New Orleans , Louisiana , in 1967 . She went on to earn her masters and doctorate in Romance literature from Harvard University in 1970 and 1973 , respectively . Early academic positions . Simmons was an assistant professor of French at the University of New Orleans from 1973-1976 and Assistant Dean of the UNO College of Liberal Arts from 1975–76 . She moved to California State University , Northridge in 1977 as administrative coordinator of its NEH Liberal Studies Project . From 1978–79 , she was acting director of CSU-Northridges International Programs and visiting associate professor of Pan-African Studies . Simmons moved to the University of Southern California in 1979 as assistant dean of graduate studies , and then as associate dean of graduate studies . She moved to Princeton University in 1983 and served as assistant dean of faculty and then associate dean of faculty from 1986 to 1990 . Simmons served as provost at Spelman College from 1990 to 1991 and returned to Princeton as its vice provost from 1992 to 1995 . Smith College presidency . In 1995 Simmons became the first African-American woman to head a major college or university when she was selected as president of Smith College , which she led until 2001 . As president of Smith College , Simmons started the first engineering program in a U.S . womans college . Brown University presidency . Simmons was elected Browns first female president in November 2000 , assuming that office in October 2001 , succeeding Gordon Gee . She also held appointments as a professor in the Departments of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies . In 2002 , Newsweek selected her as a Ms . Woman of the Year , while in 2001 , Time named her as Americas best college president . At Brown , she completed a $1.4 billion initiative - the largest in Browns history - known as Boldly Brown : The Campaign for Academic Enrichment in order to enhance Browns academic programs . In 2004 , former Brown student Sidney E . Frank made the largest aggregate monetary contribution to Brown in its history in the amount of $120 million . The Frank gifts were principally devoted to scholarship assistance to Brown students and to Browns programs in the sciences . By early 2007 , philanthropist Warren Alpert made a similarly generous contribution to strengthen the programs of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in the amount of $100 million , matching the core portion of the Sidney Frank gift to Brown . As reported in a May 22 , 2009 , press release , Brown chancellor Thomas J . Tisch announced early accomplishment of the $1.4 billion fundraising campaign and the continued pursuit of specific subsidiary goals in support of endowments for student scholarships , the Brown faculty and internationalization programs through the originally planned campaign completion date of December 31 , 2010 . In a 2006 orientation meeting with parents , Simmons denied interest in the presidency of Harvard University , which at the time was headed by an interim president , Derek Bok . Nevertheless , a 2007 New York Times article , featuring a photograph of Simmons , reported that the Harvard Corporation , responsible for selecting the universitys replacement for former president Lawrence Summers , had been given a list of potential candidates that included her name . In August 2007 , Simmons was invited to deliver the 60th Annual Reading of the historic 1790 George Washington at the Synagogue in Newport , Rhode Island in response to Moses Seixas on the subject of religious pluralism . According to a March 2009 poll by The Brown Daily Herald , Simmons had more than an 80% approval rating among Brown undergraduates . In September 2011 , Simmons announced that she would step down from her position as Brown President at the end of the 2011–12 academic year , originally saying she would remain at Brown as a professor of comparative literature and Africana studies . She was succeeded as Brown President on June 30 , 2012 , by Christina Paxson . Goldman Sachs role and compensation . Simmons earned annual compensation of over $300,000 from Goldman Sachs ( on top of her annual salary from Brown of over $500,000 ) while serving on the Goldman board of directors during the late-2000s financial crisis ; in addition , she left the Goldman board ( which she had joined in 2000 ) in 2009 with over $4.3 million in Goldman stock . During her term on Goldmans board , she also served on the compensation committee of Goldmans ten-person board , which decided how large Goldman executives post-crash bonuses would be ; these bonuses included a $68 million bonus for the companys chairman and CEO , Lloyd C . Blankfein , in 2007 and a $9 million bonus in 2009 after Goldman received money in the federal TARP bailout . The revelations of Simmonss role received intense criticism from both alumni and students , with a then-sophomore stating that Simmonss actions brought shame on the university . Simmons was cited in the 2010 film Inside Job , as an example of the conflicts of interest between university economics departments and deregulation of financial institutions . Transnational initiatives at Brown . As the wealth that the founding Brown family contributed to the university was based in part on the triangular slave trade , in 2003 , Simmons established the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice to examine this complex history and make recommendations for how the university might approach the relevant issues . The Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice was subsequently published . On February 16 , 2007 , at an event celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 and the involvement of Cambridge University alumni William Wilberforce , Thomas Clarkson and William Pitt the Younger , Simmons delivered a lecture at St . Johns College , Cambridge , entitled Hidden in Plain Sight : Slavery and Justice in Rhode Island . Also in February 2007 , Brown University published its official Response to the Report of the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice following completion of the historic inquiry undertaken by the committee appointed by Simmons . The bicentenary of the British abolition of the slave trade was also commemorated at Oxford University , notably at Rhodes House . In October 2007 , Simmons appointed David W . Kennedy , the former Manley O . Hudson Professor of Law at Harvard Law School , as vice president for international affairs . In addition to supporting the leadership of the Watson Institute for International Studies , the new university officer will lead a multidisciplinary advanced research project in the field of global law , governance and social thought to strengthen the Universitys international work in the social sciences . As an additional element of Simmons leadership of Browns international efforts , Brown and Banco Santander of Spain inaugurated an annual series of International Advanced Research Institutes to convene a rising generation of scholars from emerging and developing countries at Brown in a signing ceremony on November 13 , 2008 , at the John Hay Library between Brown provost David Kertzer and Emilio Botin , chairman of Banco Santander . As noted by Simmons : To be at the forefront of research today means being in conversation with global peers . The Brown Institutes provide exciting opportunities to encounter new ideas , build collegiate relationships and enrich faculty development for young scholars and teachers from around the world . In March 2010 , Simmons traveled to India as part of a major program called the Year of India which is dedicated to the improvement of understanding of Indian history , politics , education and culture among Brown students and faculty . Prairie View A&M University presidency . On September 15 , 2011 , Simmons announced that she would step down from the Brown presidency at the end of the academic year , June 30 , 2012 . She retired to Texas where she had been born and raised . On June 19 , 2017 , she agreed to step in as the interim president of Prairie View A&M University , a member of the Texas A&M University System and a historically black institution , assuming the office on July 1 , 2017 . On December 4 , 2017 , she was officially named the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University . She is the first woman elected to serve as president of Prairie View A&M , where her older brother was a basketball student-athlete . At Prairie View A&M , Simmons focused her efforts on improving the financial stabilty of the university , particularly on fundraising tens of millions dollars for the Panther Success Grants . Civic activities and honors . - Simmons is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , the American Philosophical Society , and the Council on Foreign Relations . She has served as chair of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents and is an honorary fellow of Selwyn College , Cambridge . - Simmons serves on the boards of Texas Instruments and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles . She announced in 2007 that she would not seek re-election to the board of directors of Pfizer after serving on the board for 10 years . - In 2000 , Simmons received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . - On June 17 , 2009 , The White House announced that President Barack Obama had appointed Dr . Simmons to the Presidents Commission on White House Fellowships . - In February 2010 , Simmons received a BET Honors award for her service as president of Brown University . - In 2010 , she was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her many humanitarian efforts . External links . - Ruth J . Simmons : 2001–2012 ; from the Office of the President , Brown University - Ruth Simmons . Video produced by