Learning from Dr. Ruth J. Simmons, university leader and memoirist
In advance of our March 20 event with Ruth Simmons, we checked in with the event moderator, James Campbell, the Edgar E. Robinson Professor of United States History at Stanford, who will be interviewing her about her memoir, Up Home: One Girl's Journey. Simmons is the former president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M University, and she holds master’s and doctorate degrees in Romance languages and literature from Harvard University. Here, Campbell provides some background about how he and Simmons have worked together in the past and what he is looking forward to learning through their conversation.
Q. How do you know Dr. Simmons, and why did you want to interview her about her memoir?
I taught at Brown University before coming to Stanford. My years there, 1999-2009, substantially overlapped with Ruth Simmons' tenure as president. While there, I served as chair of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, which she appointed and tasked with investigating and disclosing the university's historical relationship with slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. It was a pioneering effort that has since been emulated by more than a hundred other universities around the world. This was the context in which I first came to know President Simmons and first came to appreciate just how remarkable she was as a university leader.
Q. What are you looking forward to discussing?
During her time at Brown, President Simmons rarely spoke about her own background, so I was as interested as anyone in learning more about her childhood, her education, and her extraordinary journey. I genuinely believe that Up Home is destined to join the canon of classic African American autobiographies — it is that good. So I'm really looking forward to asking her how the book came to be, and what it was like to re-examine these sometimes painful chapters of her past.
Q. How are Dr. Simmons' reflections on her own education relevant to academic innovation in higher education?
President Simmons's book has all kinds of virtues, but it strikes me, above all else, as a testament to the transformative power of education. It is also an eloquent expression of the core values of universities, and of the fundamental importance of these oft-criticized institutions in preserving American democracy.
The author conversation about Up Home: One Girl's Journey is the second event in a series of three in winter/spring 2024 for the Academic Innovation for the Public Good series co-organized by Stanford Digital Education and Trinity College.
Jenny Robinson is a digital community and social media specialist for Stanford Digital Education.
