Rice University Distinguished Presidential Fellow Ruth Simmons appointed to Dallas Fed board

DALLAS—The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has appointed Ruth J. Simmons to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ board of directors.

She will serve the remaining portion of a three-year term ending Dec. 31, 2025.

Simmons previously served on the Houston Branch board.

In her role as a board member, Simmons will provide insight into the region’s economy in support of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy function.

Simmons is Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Rice University and advisor to Harvard University on relationships with historically black colleges and universities.

She is former president of Prairie View A&M University. She also served as president of Brown University and Smith College.

Simmons served in various faculty and administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University and Spelman College.

She is a member of many nonprofit boards, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and The Holdsworth Center.

In 2024, President Joe Biden presented Simmons with the National Humanities Medal.

She also is the recipient of many other honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship to France, 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, Foreign Policy Association Medal, Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Centennial Medal from Harvard University.

She is a fellow of the American Philosophical Society and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also is an honorary fellow at Cambridge University’s Selwyn College and a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.

Simmons has received more than 40 honorary degrees from universities around the world, including Oxford University, Ewha Women’s University in South Korea, and The American College in Greece.

Simmons earned a BA in French from Dillard University, and an MA and PhD in Romance languages and literature from Harvard University.

Each Federal Reserve Bank has a nine-member board of directors. Three members represent commercial banks, three represent the public and three are appointed by the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C.

For more information on the Dallas Fed, visit www.dallasfed.org.

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Media contact:
James Hoard
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Phone: 214-922-5307
Email: james.hoard@dal.frb.org