NEW YORK, May 6, 2024 – Barnard College announced today that Ruth J. Simmons, distinguished scholar, author, and president emerita of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M University, will deliver the keynote address to the Class of 2024 at Barnard College’s 132nd Commencement on May 15, 2024. As part of the late-afternoon ceremony in midtown Manhattan, Simmons will also receive the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the College’s highest honor, in recognition of her trailblazing contributions to higher education.
The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Simmons — who grew up in a deeply segregated part of Texas and attended a historically Black university — made history in 2001 when she was named president of Brown University: Her selection made her the first Black president of an Ivy League institution.
The daughter of sharecroppers and the youngest of 12 children, Simmons earned degrees in Romance languages and literature from Dillard and Harvard universities. In her bestselling memoir, Up Home: A Young Girl’s Journey, she documents her life and the journey that led her to become a leader in mobilizing research on the institutional legacy of slavery and an advocate for opportunity in higher education.
A champion of women, Simmons established the nation’s first engineering program at a women’s college while at Smith and was the first woman to serve as president of Prairie View.
President Laura Ann Rosenbury, in her announcement email, said Simmons’ commitment to educational equity and excellence resonates deeply with Barnard’s own institutional values, calling her contributions to higher education “nothing short of extraordinary.”
In recent years, Barnard’s Commencement speakers have included President Barack Obama, soccer star and equal-pay advocate Abby Wambach, Doctors Without Borders International president Joanne Liu, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Leymah Gbowee, actress Meryl Streep, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
About Barnard
Barnard provides a singular educational experience, as a world-renowned college focused on excellence across the arts and sciences, with all the academic resources of Columbia University and the City of New York as an extended classroom. Founded in 1889, Barnard was one of the few colleges in the nation where women could receive the same rigorous and challenging education available to men. Today, Barnard is one of the most selective academic institutions in the country and remains devoted to empowering extraordinary women to become even more exceptional. For more information on Barnard College, contact Barnard Media Relations at 212-854-2037 or mediarelations@barnard.edu.