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Brown University President to Deliver Keynote Address
With a sense of excitement and anticipation in the air, hundreds of students at Morgan State University are looking forward to Commencement 2011. The University’s annual celebration of academic achievement takes place this year on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 10:00 in the morning in W.A.C. Hughes Memorial Stadium on the main campus.
Morgan President David Wilson has announced Dr. Ruth J. Simmons as this year’s commencement speaker. The 18th president of Brown University, Dr. Simmons is the school’s first female president in its 247-year history and the first African American to serve as president of any Ivy League institution.
“This is an opportunity to celebrate the years of hard work and academic success of our graduates and we know that Dr. Simmons is uniquely capable of helping us to do that, with her remarkable personal story and a lifetime of achievement that is sure to inspire our students and their families,” said Dr. Wilson.
A 1967 graduate of Dillard University, Dr. Simmons received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1973. She has received numerous awards and recognitions in her career, including the Teachers College Medal for Distinguished Service from Columbia University, the President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund and the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal. In 2001, the year she took the helm of Brown University, Time Magazine named Dr. Simmons “America’s best college president.”
