The 2024 conference featured a roster of speakers exploring this year’s theme of “Creating Impact” in their personal and professional lives, and how those efforts ripple out to the people and communities around them.

• Leadership
• Traditions & Annual Events

Knowing how significant running was to Professor Stephen London (1942–2022), his daughters Andrea London and Jessica London-Rand ’04MSW ran the 2023 Boston Marathon to honor his legacy, and continue to fundraise in his name. We spoke with them about their...

• Community Engagement
• In Memoriam

On Tuesday, April 2, the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities hosted the fifth annual Ifill Forum, which honors the late Gwen Ifill ’77, ’93HD and her legacy as a ground-breaking Black woman journalist. Joy Reid, author, journalist, and host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, graced the Simmons campus as the 2024 guest speaker, while NBC10 Boston and NECN anchor Latoyia Edwards served as the moderator.

• Ifill Forum

Jim Corcoran, Associate Professor Emeritus, left a 35-year legacy of teaching students in Communications at Simmons. Thanks to the support of many donors and the work of his wife, Carolyn Shute ’88 ’91MA, the James P. Corcoran Scholarship has been established to honor that legacy, in perpetuity.

• Giving
• In Memoriam
• Scholarships and Financial Aid

In celebration of International Transgender Day of Visibility, we interviewed Dane Groves ’04, ’09, ’20MS about his roles as student, staff, and faculty, and his experience undergoing a gender transition while working at Simmons.

• Careers and Internships
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• LGBTQIA+

In 1968, journalist and Roxbury native Sarah-Ann Shaw (1933–2024) made her debut television appearance on WGBH-TV’s “Say, Brother” (renamed “Basic Black” in 1998). Over the course of her career, Shaw received many awards for her groundbreaking reportage and advocacy.

• In Memoriam

On February 29, the Dotson Bridge and Mentoring Program, directed by Associate Professor of Practice LaDonna Christian, hosted a Lectureship Event with Dr. Ena Williams. Her lecture, entitled, “Experiences of Racial and Ethnic Minority Nurses: Our Role in Advancing Workforce Diversity,” identified workplace biases and underscored the need for mentorship, racial equity, and organizational change.

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Leadership
• Mentorship

Allen Smith Visiting Scholar Heidi Julien, PhD, shared digital literacy tips with the Simmons community in her presentation, “Misinformation and Information Behavior: Challenges for the Information Professions.”

• Awards and Honors

We will offer a variety of ways for our community – students, faculty, staff, alums, and friends – to participate in this historic moment as we honor the many contributions of this institution and the remarkable Simmons trailblazers, visionaries, and leaders who have and continue to shape our University and our world.

• 125th Anniversary
• From the President

We are proud that this year marks the 125th anniversary of Simmons University, an institution founded for equality and dedicated to furthering social justice and economic mobility. We are also celebrating 45 years of The Simmons Leadership Conference, an annual...

• 125th Anniversary
• From the President
• Leadership
• Social Justice & Advocacy