Riverside, Calif., August, 2000 -- La Sierra University has announced the appointment of Ella Smith Simmons as university provost and vice president for academic administration. The appointment, approved at the May 25 meeting of the university Board of Trustees meeting, establishes Simmons as the institution's second ranking administrative officer behind university president Lawrence T. Geraty.

As provost, Simmons will hold administrative responsibilities for the entire La Sierra campus, including those of chief academic officer with responsibility for leadership in the university's academic experience.

A lifelong educator and longtime college administrator, Simmons came to La Sierra from Oakwood College where she served since 1997 as vice president for academic affairs and a professor of education.

A native of Louisville, Ky., Simmons earned her bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, Ind. Her teaching career started in 1978 with an elementary-level teaching post in the Indiana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. From there, she went on to school principal posts for an Adventist school in the South Central Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and in the New Albany (Ind.)-Floyd County Public Schools.

Simmons earned her master's of arts degree in curriculum, instruction and supervision from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Mich.; and her doctorate in curriculum, supervision and administration from the University of Louisville, which she received in 1987. Her doctoral dissertation focused on problems and politics associated with urban education.

In 1988, her career in higher education started at Kentucky State University, Frankfort, where she was a professor of education and chair of the education department. From 1990 to 1997, she served on the faculty of the University of Louisville as both an assistant and associate professor of education, and as associate dean of the School of Education. She taught classes on both the undergraduate and graduate level, specializing in sociology and the politics of education. As a graduate faculty member, she supervised the dissertation development process for numerous doctoral students.

During her years in Louisville, she served the U.S. Department of Education in its "Career Opportunities in Special Education" program and acted as director of the "Avenues to Certification for Teaching Program" sponsored by Dewitt Wallace and Reader's Digest Foundation. Her 1997 appointment as vice president for academic affairs at Oakwood College marked her return to Adventist educational circles.

Among the specific causes that Simmons has promoted in her career are intervention for at-risk students and program evaluation for the development and maintenance of high educational standards.

She served on numerous educational commissions for the state of Kentucky and for the Jefferson County (Ky.) Public Schools. During the course of her career, she has acted as either a lead investigator, co-investigator or primary researcher on educational grants totaling more than $2 million. Simmons has been widely published in academic journals and is the recipient of numerous awards including an "outstanding contributions" award from the University of Louisville Office of Minority Services that she received in 1995 and an award for "outstanding service" from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education that she received in 1991.

She and her husband, Nord Simmons, a retired secondary-level teacher, have two adult sons and one granddaughter.

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