PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Ruth Simmons, a sharecropper's daughter who went on to earn a Ph.D. in Romance languages, was named president of Brown University on Thursday, becoming the first black to lead an Ivy League school.
Simmons, the 55-year-old president of Smith College, succeeds Gordon Gee, who resigned from Brown in February to become chancellor of Vanderbilt University.
Simmons grew up poor in Texas as the youngest of 12 children. Her father was a sharecropper, and her mother worked as a maid. She was educated in segregated schools, earned a scholarship to Dillard University in New Orleans and graduated with highest honors in 1967, then got her doctorate from Harvard.
At a news conference Thursday, she wept as she imagined what her parents would have thought of her appointment, and recalled the first time she told her mother she wanted to go to college.
''She said, 'Possibly if you can get a scholarship you can go,''' Simmons said. ''Her mouth said, 'If you can get a scholarship,' but her eyes said she didn't think it would ever happen, so it's been very important for me to imagine my mother would have been very happy.''
In 1995, Simmons became the first black woman to lead Smith, an elite 2,500-student women's college in Northampton, Mass. During her tenure, the school's endowment nearly doubled to $900 million. She also established an engineering program, the first at a women's school.
Brown, which has 7,000 students, has an endowment of $1.5 billion, among the smallest of the Ivy League schools. Simmons said increasing financial aid is a top priority.
''A student with ability, irrespective of economic means, just has to be able to come to Brown. That's a moral imperative,'' she said.
Brown has been seeking a president since February, when Gee angered many on campus by announcing he was leaving after just two years.
Brown Chancellor Stephen Robert said Simmons was chosen because of her accomplishments in recruiting minority faculty members and increasing undergraduate scholarships, and her general support for faculty and research.
''We have selected an extraordinary leader, a person of character, of intgegrity and of depth,'' Robert said.
Smith also credits Simmons with increasing diversity on campus; improving undergraduate education through intensive seminars for first-year students; and creating a program that allows students to be paid for their summer internships.
''Ruth Simmons has provided outstanding leadership for Smith and we will be very sad to see her leave,'' said Shelly Lazarus, chairwoman of the Smith board of trustees.
Simmons will start at Brown in July. She was introduced to students at a campus meeting.
''Her story is undoubtedly inspirational,'' said David Moore, a 21-year-old senior studying English and philosophy.
Mathu Suvramanian, a 20-year-old junior studying biochemistry, said she is proud that Brown was named the first black Ivy League president.
''I think she'll be a much better fit than Gee,'' Suvramanian said.
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On the Net:
Brown: http://www.brown.edu
Smith: http://www.smith.edu