It All Adds Up: Cultivating Girls in Math and Science

CLEVELAND: Dr. Ruth J. Simmons, president of Brown University and the first African-American to head an Ivy League school, will speak about promoting young women in the fields of math and science at noon on Friday, March 9, 2007, at The City Club of Cleveland.

A French professor before entering university administration, Simmons also holds an appointment as a professor of comparative literature and of Africana studies at Brown. She graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans before completing her Ph.D. in Romance languages and literatures at Harvard.

Simmons served in various administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College before taking over as president of Smith College, when she became the first African-American woman to head a major university. At Smith, she launched an engineering program, the first at an American women’s college.

Simmons is the recipient of many honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship, the 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, and the 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal. She has been a featured speaker in many public venues, serves on a number of boards, including Pfizer Inc., Texas Instruments, and The Goldman Sachs Group, and has been awarded numerous honorary degrees.

Tickets for this City Club Friday Forum are $18 for members and $30 for non-members. Lunch is included. They can be purchased by calling The City Club at 216.621.0082 or visiting the website at www.cityclub.org.