Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons has been selected to receive the Pell Award For Leadership in Arts Education. Simmons will be honored at the 16th annual Pell Awards, to be held May 21, 2012, at Trinity Repertory Company’s Dowling Theater and Pell Chafee Performance Center. Other honorees include actress Viola Davis, Rhode Island arts educator Elaine Foster Perry, and Providence Performing Arts Center president J.L. Singleton. In announcing the award recipients, Trinity Repertory Company Artistic Director Curt Columbus cited Simmons for helping establish the Brown/Trinity Rep graduate program, which trains actors, playwrights and directors and enjoys a national reputation.