Susan C. Scrimshaw (2006-2008)

Portrait of Susan Scrimshaw, c. 2006. 

Susan C. Scrimshaw, born 1945, received her B.A. from Barnard College in Latin American Studies and Anthropology in 1967 and her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Anthropology in 1974. After a faculty career at Columbia University and at the University of California, Los Angeles, Scrimshaw served as Associate and Acting Dean at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health. In 1994 she became Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In December 2005, Scrimshaw was named the seventh President of Simmons College and began her tenure on July 1, 2006. 

An international scholar in medical anthropology, Scrimshaw's interdisciplinary research focused on gender, race, ethnicity, and culture and their impact on public health. Scrimshaw's career reflected her commitment to women's issues in education, diversity, cross-cultural understanding, community service, and social justice, as well as her passion for teaching and research. All of these qualities translated into her service at Simmons, where she sought to instill a sense of social justice and social purpose in women's education that simultaneously aligned with and far exceeded John Simmons' vision for women's education. Before leaving Simmons, Scrimshaw noted that: 

When I see what Simmons is already doing, I think about concepts like transforming nations by empowering women and transforming communities by building leaders.