Brown University, one of the prestigious US Ivy League institutions, has appointed its first female president. Ruth J Simmons is also the first black woman to take up such a post. Simmons was appointed head of Smith College, an elite private women's college, five years ago. She is the youngest daughter of a former sharecropper from Texas.

Brown has a reputation of being less orthodox than other Ivy League colleges. University chancellor Stephen Robert described the appointment as "an historic and momentous occasion".

At her inauguration ceremony Simmons emphasised the "moral imperative" of making education at all levels accessible to every background and social level. Harvard and Princeton are currently seeking new presidents.