Ruth Simmons

Brown University's new president has risen to the pinnacle of academia from humble beginnings, inspired along the way by her teachers. It was no surprise then that Ruth J. Simmons encouraged those at her inauguration to value the excellence of teaching and learning, even encouraging students to pursue a teaching career. "Teaching, wherever it occurs, is the lifeline of the university, the nation and the world," said Simmons, the Providence, R.I.

Brown University's new president has risen to the pinnacle of academia from humble beginnings, inspired along the way by her teachers. It was no surprise then that Ruth J. Simmons encouraged those at her inauguration to value the excellence of teaching and learning, even encouraging students to pursue a teaching career. "Teaching, wherever it occurs, is the lifeline of the university, the nation and the world," said Simmons, the Providence, R.I.

Ruth Simmons, a sharecropper's daughter who went on to earn a doctorate in romance languages, was named president of Brown University on Thursday, becoming the first black to lead an Ivy League school. Simmons, the 55-year-old president of Smith College, succeeds Gordon Gee, who resigned from Brown in February to become chancellor of Vanderbilt University. Simmons grew up poor in Texas, the youngest of 12 children.

Ruth Simmons, a sharecropper's daughter who went on to earn a doctorate in romance languages, was named president of Brown University on Thursday, becoming the first black to lead an Ivy League school. Simmons, the 55-year-old president of Smith College, succeeds Gordon Gee, who resigned from Brown in February to become chancellor of Vanderbilt University. Simmons grew up poor in Texas, the youngest of 12 children.

It is hard for La Salle forward Lionel Simmons to look his successes squarely in the eye and accept the breadth of his accomplishments -- including his pending status as the fifth NCAA player to score 3,000 points and the only one to also have 1,300 rebounds. Perhaps it is because he has spent most of his life flinching from shadows that threatened to engulf him at times. There was the hardscrabble neighborhood that contributed to two brothers going to jail.

For the first five years on the job, Ruth J. Simmons buried herself in the business of running Smith College. The new president limited her off-campus visits to meeting with Smith alumnae and touring Eastern prep schools filled with brainy girls that feed into the elite women's college in Massachusetts. Now she has set off on a "personal quest" across America to increase racial diversity at leading colleges and universities.

Woodrow W. Scott, who owned a restaurant in Pacoima for 17 years, has died at his Sun Valley home. He was 72. A longtime resident of Sun Valley, Scott died Saturday of lung cancer, said his son, Michael Scott. Born in De Valls Bluff, Ark., he served in the U.S. Navy from 1940 to 1945. Known as Scott to his friends, he worked as a truck driver for many years. In 1966, he bought Wendell's Chicken House in Pacoima, which he operated until his retirement in 1983.

Morey Bernstein, a Colorado businessman whose interest in hypnotism led to the 1956 bestseller "The Quest for Bridey Murphy," has died. Bernstein, a native of Pueblo, Colo., died there on April 2 of cardiac arrhythmia. He was 79. Bernstein was educated at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and took over the family business, a junkyard. He was a gifted entrepreneur, turning the junkyard into a first-class mail-order outfit.

Virginia Tighe Morrow, whose revelation under hypnosis of a purported past life as a 19th-Century Irishwoman sparked a 1950s debate over reincarnation and served as the basis for the best-selling book and subsequent movie titled "The Search for Bridey Murphy," has died. She was 72. Mrs. Morrow, who was identified as Ruth Simmons in the book and in the movie role played by Teresa Wright, died July 12 in her suburban Denver home, family members said Thursday. She was a Pueblo, Colo.

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For the first five years on the job, Ruth J. Simmons buried herself in the business of running Smith College. The new president limited her off-campus visits to meeting with Smith alumnae and touring Eastern prep schools filled with brainy girls that feed into the elite women's college in Massachusetts. Now she has set off on a "personal quest" across America to increase racial diversity at leading colleges and universities.

It is hard for La Salle forward Lionel Simmons to look his successes squarely in the eye and accept the breadth of his accomplishments -- including his pending status as the fifth NCAA player to score 3,000 points and the only one to also have 1,300 rebounds. Perhaps it is because he has spent most of his life flinching from shadows that threatened to engulf him at times. There was the hardscrabble neighborhood that contributed to two brothers going to jail.

You remember Ruth Simmons. She was the painfully shy Colorado housewife who, under hypnosis, broke into a wild Irish jig and announced in a rich brogue that she was Bridey Murphy of 19th-Century Belfast. You remember Al Martinez. He is the former Oakland person who, under hypnosis, announced in his usual mumble that he was Yazoo, a naked Indian. Actually, it isn't clear what I said, due to a hereditary inability to articulate.

Not long ago, Smith College English professor Patricia Skarda was walking behind two students deep in conversation. A strict grammatical constructionist, Skarda took note of their syntax. "One used 'like' 48 times," she reported, "the other, 37." Skarda was appalled but not shocked.