Ruth J. Simmons became the first black president of an Ivy League institution as the 18th president of Brown University in 2000. She
ata-slot="/21868623726/site264.tmus/amp3" data-multi-size="320x50,300x250" data-multi-size-validation="false" rtc-config='{"vendors": {"prebidappnexuspsp": {"PLACEMENT_ID": "27198239"}}, "timeoutMillis": 500}'> is also Brown’s first female president. In addition, in 1995 Simmons became the first African American woman to be made head of a major college at Smith College, where she started their first engineering program.