NLNAC BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Howard L. Simmons, PhD
Biographical Sketch
Dr.
Howard L. Simmons, past Executive Director and Associate Director of the
Middle States Commission on Higher Education from 1974 to 1995, is currently
Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership and
Policy in the School of Education and Urban Studies at Morgan State University.
Most recently he was elected as the Chair of the Accreditation Commission for
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM). Currently, he is also completing his
appointment as an ETS-HBCU Research Scholar for 2003-2004, with particular
responsibility for studying the contributions of HBCUs to American higher
Education. Prior to joining the faculty at Morgan, Dr. Simmons was a tenured
member of the faculty in the Division of Educational Leadership and Policy
Studies at Arizona State University and was designated Professor Emeritus by the
Arizona Board of Regents in 2000. Earlier in his professional career, Dr.
Simmons served on the staffs of St. Louis Community College, Northampton
Community College, and Lafayette College. As an ACE Fellow in 1972-73, Dr.
Simmons conducted a study of the political influence of the Washington-based
higher education associations on federal public policy. In his faculty and
administrative capacity, he was written and spoken widely on a variety of topics
in higher education including diversity and multiculturalism, accreditation and
assessment and quality assurance, among others.
Presently he serves also as a member of the Commission on Accreditation of the
Council on Chiropractic Education and BEA Advisory Council of the American
Psychological Association. In addition to having been awarded honorary degrees
from Kings College (PA) and Sojourner-Douglass College (MD), Dr. Simmons
received his B.S. in Secondary Education and Spanish from Spring Hill College in
Alabama; his M.A.T. in Slavic Language and Literature (Russian) from Indiana
University at Bloomington; and his Ph.D. in the Design and Management of
Postsecondary Education from The Florida State University.