RUTH J. SIMMONS TO RESIGN EARLY AS PVAMU PRESIDENT

  

Prairie View A&M University President Ruth J. Simmons has announced she will step down from her position at the end of the month, four months sooner than anticipated. 

In a letter today (Friday) to the university community, Simmons said she was recently informed that she could only continue as president with “limited presidential authority.”  She intended to resign June 1^st. 

Simmons said she “could not and would not agree to being president in name only”, and that she “cannot now become a leader accepting lowered expectations.”  She added, “No one is more surprised than I by this premature end to my tenure.”

In November, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents selected Dr. Tomikia LeGrande as the sole finalist to serve as PVAMU’s next president.  Dr. LeGrande, who is currently the vice president for strategy, enrollment management and student success at Virginia Commonwealth University, is not set to assume her new duties until the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said in a statement that departing presidents in the system cannot hire senior staff or deans unless they are interim hires, so that the new president is able to choose their own leadership team.  Sharp said he informed Simmons he would not make exceptions to this policy and she decided to resign.  He said he is “sorry she chose this path” but is “forever grateful for her service at Prairie View A&M University and look forward to even greater things in the future.”

The Texas A&M System said it will appoint an interim president to serve prior to Dr. LeGrande’s start.