Dr. Ruth J. Simmons is a trailblazing leader in higher education, currently a President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University and a Senior Adviser to the president of Harvard University. She previously served as president of Prairie View A&M, Brown University, and Smith College, where she launched impactful academic initiatives. A Dillard University graduate with a Harvard Ph.D., she has held leadership roles at Princeton and Spelman College and serves on numerous influential boards.

• Dr. Simmons is an academic leader and New York Times best-selling author.
• She believes different groups must work together to create a thriving democracy.
• She encourages open dialogue and constructive critique.
• She emphasizes that policies should focus on meaningful outcomes and be clearly communicated.
• Dr. Simmons is a Trustee Emerita and a President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University.
• She holds a bachelor’s degree from Dillard University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

As the nation grapples with race and fairness, Dr. Simmons stresses that diverse groups must join forces for the greater good. Delivering the University of Houston Law Center’s 2025 Black History Month Lecture, she titled her talk:

"Race and Racism: Reconciling the Past with the Present"

"We must come together to craft sensible policies that enable progress for all," said Simmons.

"This is work we must do for the survival of the country."

UHLC Dean Leonard Baynes set the stage with a historical overview of civil rights in the U.S., from the Dred Scott decision (1857) to President Gerald Ford's 1976 official recognition of Black History Month, to the 2022 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action (Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard). Quoting Carter G. Woodson, the historian who pioneered Black history celebrations, Baynes emphasized:

“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition. It becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world.”

Dr. Simmons, drawing from six decades of experience, reflected on race, racism, and civil rights.

Growing up as the youngest of 12 children in a sharecropping family in rural East Texas and Houston, Simmons spent her early years in segregated schools. But this experience, she said, had its own value and led her to earn a summa cum laude bachelor’s degree from Dillard University before obtaining her master’s and doctorate from Harvard in Romance Languages and Literature.

Transitioning from segregated learning to a broader educational environment was a turning point in her life.