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Rankings

Women's Leadership

  • The Simmons Leadership Conference is the preeminent and longest-running women's leadership forum in the country, and annually attracts a global audience of 3,000 business and professional women. The conference has featured such notable speakers as Oprah Winfrey, Madeleine Albright, Carly Fiorina, Toni Morrison, Bille Jean King, Meg Whitman, Queen Noor, Jehan Sadat, and the late Benazir Bhutto.
  • For the second year in a row, Simmons hosted a group of international women Fulbright Scholars through the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Fulbright Program. In April 2013, Simmons hosted nearly 100 women during a four-day program that explored issues related to women's leadership and cultural, gender, and professional re-entry challenges that the women may face upon returning to their home countries. The program is part of the distinguished Fulbright Leadership and Re-entry Seminar for Women from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Southeast Asia, and South and Central Asia. 
  • In the summer 2012, Simmons hosted a "Study of the United States Institute on Women's Leadership," as part of a broader U.S. Department of State initiative designed to promote a better understanding of the U.S. abroad and to help develop future world leaders. Twenty undergraduate women from five African countries, along with 10 Simmons students, participated in a five-week program, "Women Changing the Face of Leadership," Boston, Atlanta, and Washington D.C.
  • For seven years, the Simmons School of Management has hosted the Japanese Women's Leadership Initiative. This four-week program is designed to train and empower Japanese women to become leaders for social change upon their return to Japan.
  • Simmons School of Management Elizabeth J. McCandless Chair in Entrepreneurship Teresa Nelson attended the Inclusion Tech Summit at the White House in January 2013. The summit hosted business, government, non-profit, and tech-world innovators exploring opportunities for students to learn tech skills, particularly in underserved and underrepresented communities. Nelson also was invited to Washington D.C. for the 2012 White House Forum on Women & the Economy . The event was hosted by Tina Chen, executive director of the White House Office on Women & Girls, and Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the President and chair of the White House Council on Women & Girls.
  • The School of Management administers the annual Silverman Business Plan Competition, for management students and graduates. This annual contest supports women in launching and leading entrepreneurial ventures.
  • President Helen Drinan received the 2012 Pinnacle Award for Excellence in Arts & Education from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in 2012. The Chamber honored business and professional women who have demonstrated excellence in entrepreneurship, management, and lifetime achievement.
  • Teresa Nelson, the Elizabeth J. McCandless Chair in Entrepreneurship and Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the Simmons School of Management, attended the Inclusion Tech Summit at the White House in January 2013. The summit hosted business, government, non-profit, and tech-world innovators exploring opportunities for students to learn tech skills, particularly in underserved and underrepresented communities. The event was created in response to President Obama's initiative to increase the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by one billion within the next ten years. This is the third event Nelson has attended at the White House.
  • The Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO) at the Simmons School of Management is an international resource on ways to improve organizational effectiveness by strengthening gender equity and diversity in the workplace. The CGO's research and consulting services address issues related to gender equity and change, globalization, leaderships, and diversity in the U.S. and abroad.
  • As part of a national campaign to increase the presence of women on U.S. corporate boards, Simmons hosted a 2020 Women of Boards luncheon and expert panel discussion on Dec. 12, 2012. The discussion, one of several being held around the country, focused on achieving gender diversity in U.S. corporate boardrooms. 2020 Women on Boards aims to raise the percentage of women on U.S. corporate boards to 20 percent or greater by 2020.
  • The new Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women and Leadership will be visiting professor Susan Vinnicombe, an internationally renowned expert on women's leadership styles and issues involved in developing women's careers, and expanding diversity on corporate boards. She is a professor and director of the International Centre for Women Leaders at England's Cranfield School of Management. Vinnicombe has advised governments in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Finland and Spain on how to increase the number of women on their corporate board.
  • Simmons Graduate Adela Raz '08 was appointed first deputy spokesman and director of the communications for Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. Raz is the first woman in the history of that country to hold this prestigious position. She came to the United States in 2004 to pursue her undergraduate education at Simmons through a partnership between The Initiative To Educate Afghan Women (IEAW) and Simmons College. The IEAW aims to help create Afghanistan's future women leaders through education and career guidance.

Recognition and Awards

  • Simmons College School of Social Work Professor Gary Bailey, MSW, is serving a three-year-term as president of the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), a global organization of more than 700,000 social workers in more than 80 countries. Bailey is the first African-American and the first American in 20 years to serve as president of the IFSW.
  • Simmons College Nutrition Professor Teresa Fung, Sc.D., played a crucial role in the development of U.S.News & World Report's 2013 Best Diets rankings. Fung was a member of an invited panel of health experts selected by U.S.News to develop its rankings. The experts reviewed information on 20 well-known diets from Atkins to Zone and rated each diet on specific measures such as heart health and nutritional completeness.
  • Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Professor and interim dean Maureen Sullivan was elected 2012-2013 president of the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA is the oldest and largest library association in the world.
  • Judy Beal, PhD, dean of the Simmons College School of Nursing and Health Sciences, was recently inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing. This is the highest honor that a nurse can receive. According to the Academy of Nursing, being named a Fellow is more than recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession. Academy Fellows "also have a responsibility to contribute their time and energies to the Academy, and to engage with other health care leaders outside the Academy in transforming America's health care system."
  • For the sixth consecutive year, Simmons College was named to the 2012 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for its students' volunteer contributions to the community. The Scott/Ross Center for Community Service played a significant role in engaging more than 2,600 undergraduate and graduate students in approximately 54,100 hours of community service activities at the College.
  • Simmons was recognized with Gold LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for its School of Management and Academic Building. Few Boston area universities hold this national "green" building distinction.
  • President Barack Obama appointed Camila A. Alire, Ph.D, professor of practice in the Managerial Leadership Ph.D. program at Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science, to the National Council on the Humanities January 2013. From 2009 to 2010, Dr. Alire served as President of the American Library Association.
  • Education Department Chair and Professor Paul Abraham was awarded to participate in the Spring 2013 Fulbright English Language Specialist Program (ESLP) in Vietnam. ELSP recruits U.S. academics and professionals specialized in who Teaching English as a foreign Language (TEFL) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) to conduct programs overseas ranging from two weeks to four months. Abraham will spend one month at the University of Dong Thap, south of Ho Chi Minh City, working with English faculty and language majors to move towards Project 2020, a national agenda to improve English language proficiency throughout the country.
  • Simmons School of Management Dean Cathy Minehan received the Leadership in Corporate Governance award in April 2013 from the National Association of Corporate Directors New England Chapter (NACDNE) at the 2013 Director of the Year Awards. Each year, the NACDNE recognizes board members from a variety of sectors who exemplify outstanding professional standards and performance in the boardroom. Minehan was also named chair of Boston Mayor Tom Menino's Women's Workforce Council, which aims to make Boston ‘the premier city for working women.' 
  • Jennifer Bento, a member of the class of 2011, received a highly competitive award from the National Science Foundation to fund the next three years of her Ph.D. program. This prestigious graduate research fellowship will cover all of Bento's research and tuition expenses in the Polymer Program in the Institute of Materials Science at the University of Connecticut. Bento is currently in her second year of graduate school and is focusing on improving the design of water purification systems.
  • Associate Professor Nanette Veilleux has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to teach computer engineering at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Rwanda, in Fall 2013. Veilleux said she was inspired by Rwanda President Paul Kagame's Compton Series lecture at MIT, where he noted that Rwanda could ‘leap frog' technology used in countries with more infrastructure. 
  • Chair of the Political Science and International Relations Department, Professor Kirk Beattie also has been awarded a Fulbright Grant, to examine the impact that different educational tracks have on an Egyptian student's later political involvement. Beattie will be in Egypt for the 2013-2014 academic year. A 1976 Center for Arabic Study Abroad full-year fellow, Beattie has lived in Egypt for over six years across a span of several decades, including on a previous Fulbright-Hays Grant. His research has resulted in two books, Egypt During the Nasser Years and Egypt During the Sadat Years.

Student Recognition and Experience

  • The Simmons College Tennis team captured its fifth Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Tennis Championship. The Sharks, who went undefeated in the conference this year, have now won 50 consecutive GNAC matches, dating back to 2007. 
  • In spring 2013, two groups of Simmons students participated in the Clinton Global Initiative in St. Louis, a distinguished national initiative that brought together more than 1,000 college students with innovators, thought leaders, and civically engaged celebrities, to address the most pressing challenges facing their campuses and communities, including education, environment and climate change, human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health. 
  • The Simmons Swimming and Diving team also captured the GNAC Championship in 2012-2013. The program has earned the title for the ninth consecutive year, and 11 of the last 12 years.
  • The "Simmons World Challenge" is a two-week interdisciplinary course in which sophomore students focus on a broad topic such as hunger, health, and humanity; and create workable and well-researched solutions that could be put into effect in the local community. The students live together on campus, shop and cook together, and work together every day throughout the two-week period. This year's theme was "At the Edge of Poverty: Empowering Women to Change Their Lives and Their Worlds."
  • Student Veronica Nowakowski was recognized by the American Chemical Society (ACS) with the 2012 Student Leadership Award. This award recognizes emerging undergraduate leaders, and helps them prepare for leadership opportunities at volunteer organizations and in their professional career where the ACS believes that they have tremendous potential to be successful leaders. This is the second year in a row that a Simmons student has won the award. The ACS leadership also recognized the student chapter at Simmons in 2011 for its achievements for the past eight out of nine years, describing Simmons's faculty engagement with the chapter as "representing the best in undergraduate science education and mentoring around the country."
  • The Simmons School of Management student-led Net Impact chapter received the 2012 prestigious "Gold standing," a designation given to only 16 percent of Net Impact's 300 members. Net Impact is a nonprofit organization that works to equip individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world.
  • Simmons junior Shauna Deleon was recently named a "Difference Maker of the Week" by the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. As part of this honor, Deleon was recognized during half-time during a Patriots game in the 2012-2013 season. Deleon was selected for her work as a Teaching Woman at Girls' LEAP, where she began volunteering in her first semester at Simmons through the Scott/Ross Center for Community Service.
  • Marcela Aldaz Matos, Simmons School of Management student and executive vice-president of the Boston chapter Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA), was awarded the Women's Initiative LIVE UNITED Award at the fall 2012 United Way's 17th Annual Women's Leadership Breakfast. The event celebrates women's role in philanthropy, as women consistently become top earners creating impact in the philanthropic industry.

Special Accreditation and Certification

  • The Simmons School of Management holds the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. Fewer than 30 percent of business schools in the United States — and fewer than five percent worldwide — have earned and retained this distinguished hallmark of excellence in management education.
  • The Simmons Behavioral Analysis graduate program, which is accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), is one of only 13 schools in the country with this highly prestigious accreditation designation, and the only school in New England. The ABAI is an accrediting agency that calls for standards that "encourage and support exemplary training of behavior scientists and scientist-practitioners."

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