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Ruth J. Simmons announced Thursday that she will step down from the presidency of Brown University at the end of the academic year. Simmons, who is in her 11th year as Brown's president, and who was earlier the president of Smith College, said that it was a good time to plan a transition for the university and for herself. She plans to resume teaching at Brown.
Simmons received much attention as the first black woman to lead an Ivy League university, and some of her work related to issues of race and history, particularly in appointing a panel to study to links between Brown's founders and the slave trade. But she also led successful campaigns to increase the size of the faculty, and to provide substantially more money than in the past to financial aid. In recent years, she has generally won high marks from the university for navigating the tight budget environment created by the economic downturn.
