Bill Text: TX HR1070 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Congratulating Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M University, on her selection as principal speaker for the 2021 Harvard University commencement celebration.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-05-18 - Reported enrolled [HR1070 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HR1070-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Congratulating Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M University, on her selection as principal speaker for the 2021 Harvard University commencement celebration.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-05-18 - Reported enrolled [HR1070 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HR1070-Introduced.html
87R24348 BPG-D | ||
By: J. Johnson of Harris | H.R. No. 1070 |
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WHEREAS, Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M | ||
University, has been named principal speaker for Harvard | ||
University's commencement celebration on May 27, 2021; and | ||
WHEREAS, Born in Grapeland, Dr. Simmons grew up as the 12th | ||
child of sharecroppers; she earned a scholarship to Dillard | ||
University and after graduating summa cum laude in 1967, she went on | ||
to earn her doctoral degree in Romance languages and literatures | ||
from Harvard; for several years, she taught French at the | ||
University of New Orleans; a new career path in administration took | ||
her to California State University, and then to the University of | ||
Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College; in | ||
1995, she was named president of Smith College, where she focused on | ||
increasing access and established the first engineering program at | ||
a women's college in the U.S.; and | ||
WHEREAS, In 2001, Dr. Simmons became the first African | ||
American to lead an Ivy League institution when she was appointed | ||
president of Brown University; she earned wide acclaim for her | ||
achievements, including need-blind undergraduate financial aid, | ||
faculty expansion, enhanced curricula, and new facilities; | ||
moreover, she helped the school begin to confront its links to a | ||
shameful stain on American history, slavery and the slave trade; | ||
she created the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and | ||
Justice, which released a report that has aided other institutions | ||
in addressing similar echoes of the nation's past; and | ||
WHEREAS, Dr. Simmons retired in 2012, but six years later, as | ||
the graduate of a historically Black college, she felt called to | ||
accept the presidency of Prairie View A&M; while guiding the | ||
school, she has also continued to promote educational equity | ||
elsewhere; she testified on behalf of Harvard College in a lawsuit | ||
challenging its right to consider race as an admissions factor; | ||
over the years, she has received myriad accolades, among them an | ||
honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard, and in 2013, she was | ||
named Chevalier in the French National Order of the Legion of Honor, | ||
the highest decoration bestowed by the French government; and | ||
WHEREAS, One of the nation's most dynamic and | ||
transformational leaders, Ruth Simmons has made a lasting, positive | ||
imprint on higher education and continues to work tirelessly to | ||
widen horizons of opportunities for all; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby congratulate Ruth Simmons on her selection as | ||
principal speaker for the 2021 Harvard University commencement | ||
celebration and extend to her sincere best wishes for the future; | ||
and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be | ||
prepared for Dr. Simmons as an expression of high regard by the | ||
Texas House of Representatives. |