Biographical information on Dr. James M. Simmons, President Emeritus, Lamar University

Jimmy Simmons held a unique position among the nation’s top educational executives. An accomplished musician on clarinet, saxophone and piano, he continued an active performance career after rising through the ranks as a music educator, band director, and administrator to take office Sept. 1, 1999, as Lamar’s 10th president.

A member of the faculty and leadership team at Lamar for more than four decades, Simmons served as dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, as interim executive director of university advancement, as music department chair and as director of bands. Simmons joined the faculty in 1970. He earned his doctorate in music education from McNeese State University, his master’s degree from the University of Houston and bachelor’s degree from Memphis State University.

Throughout his educational career, Simmons has attracted acclaim as a musician. He led the Beaumont Big Band and Jimmy Simmons Orchestra, backing up or performing with some of the biggest names in entertainment over several decades. That impressive list includes Steve Allen, Bert Bacharach, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Natalie Cole, Helen Forrest, The Four Tops, Robert Goulet, Marvin Hamlisch, Bob Hope, Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Jerry Lewis, Johnny Mathis, Helen O’Connell, Donald O’Connor, Martha Rae, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra Jr., Kay Starr, The Temptations, B.J. Thomas, Danny Thomas, Marlo Thomas, Dinah Shore, Jerry Vale, Dionne Warwick, Barry White and Joe Williams. Simmons also was a woodwind soloist with the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Allentown Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, and the Norwalk Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.

A number of accolades have come Simmons’ way. On April 5, 2009, in Oklahoma City, he received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from District IV of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), which includes Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Mexico. After presenting the conference’s keynote address – and moments before accepting the award – he performed a jazz rendition of “Oklahoma” on saxophone, to the delight of conferees. Simmons was selected as the Press Club’s Newsmaker of the Year on three separate occasions and newsmaker of the Decade in 2010. This year, Simmons was inducted in to the Southland Conference Hall of Fame. In addition, he is also a member of Lamar’s Athletic Hall of Honor.

Simmons has led the university into a new era of dynamic growth. Momentum has been the watchword of Simmons’ leadership, a period in which enrollment increased from 7,300 in 1999 to more than 15,000 in 2014. In spring 2008, Lamar University launched its first comprehensive campaign, “Investing in the Future,” and concluded in 2013 by raising more than $134 million dollars.

To celebrate the landmark event, Simmons – a talented orchestra leader as well as a musician – assembled an all-star cast of alumni musicians for the Jimmy Simmons & Friends Encore concert. The announcement attracted campaign cabinet leaders and prominent Lamar alumni from all over the country, as well as music alumni from coast to coast. An audience of several hundred shared in the occasion. A two-CD recording of the encore concert was produced to provide a lasting memento of the landmark evening.

One of the hallmark accomplishments in Simmons’s career was the return of football after a 20-year hiatus. Along with then athletic Director, Billy Tubbs, Simmons led the team that was responsible for not only the return of football but also the return of the BIG RED MARCHING BAND!

“At Lamar University, the musician sits in the president’s chair, and it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. . .. Jimmy Simmons’ band is just a whole lot bigger than it used to be,” according to a recent profile. “What Southeast Texans have seen in Simmons for all his adult life, whether directing a band, teaching music or playing in a jazz band, is what they still see.”

During Lamar’s 50th anniversary celebration, another journalist wrote: “Watching Simmons direct is like watching a lover of music respond to a full musical background; he appears to feel the beat from head to toe . . .”

The beat goes on…