NLNAC BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Howard L. Simmons, PhD
Biographical Sketch

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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.