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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M |
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University, has been named principal speaker for Harvard |
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University's commencement celebration on May 27, 2021; and |
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WHEREAS, Born in Grapeland, Dr. Simmons grew up as the 12th |
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child of sharecroppers; she earned a scholarship to Dillard |
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University and after graduating summa cum laude in 1967, she went on |
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to earn her doctoral degree in Romance languages and literatures |
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from Harvard; for several years, she taught French at the |
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University of New Orleans; a new career path in administration took |
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her to California State University, and then to the University of |
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Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College; in |
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1995, she was named president of Smith College, where she focused on |
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increasing access and established the first engineering program at |
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a women's college in the U.S.; and |
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WHEREAS, In 2001, Dr. Simmons became the first African |
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American to lead an Ivy League institution when she was appointed |
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president of Brown University; she earned wide acclaim for her |
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achievements, including need-blind undergraduate financial aid, |
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faculty expansion, enhanced curricula, and new facilities; |
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moreover, she helped the school begin to confront its links to a |
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shameful stain on American history, slavery and the slave trade; |
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she created the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and |
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Justice, which released a report that has aided other institutions |
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in addressing similar echoes of the nation's past; and |
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WHEREAS, Dr. Simmons retired in 2012, but six years later, as |
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the graduate of a historically Black college, she felt called to |
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accept the presidency of Prairie View A&M; while guiding the |
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school, she has also continued to promote educational equity |
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elsewhere; she testified on behalf of Harvard College in a lawsuit |
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challenging its right to consider race as an admissions factor; |
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over the years, she has received myriad accolades, among them an |
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honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard, and in 2013, she was |
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named Chevalier in the French National Order of the Legion of Honor, |
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the highest decoration bestowed by the French government; and |
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WHEREAS, One of the nation's most dynamic and |
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transformational leaders, Ruth Simmons has made a lasting, positive |
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imprint on higher education and continues to work tirelessly to |
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widen horizons of opportunities for all; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas |
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Legislature hereby congratulate Ruth Simmons on her selection as |
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principal speaker for the 2021 Harvard University commencement |
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celebration and extend to her sincere best wishes for the future; |
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and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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prepared for Dr. Simmons as an expression of high regard by the |
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Texas House of Representatives. |