Hunt Scholars Experiences

Hunt Leadership Scholars engage actively in the SMU community. During their time they become strong and effective leaders in campus governing bodies and student organizations.

Hunt Scholars on Main Quad

Campus Involvement and Leadership

During each year of their SMU education, Hunt Leadership Scholars are expected to engage actively in the SMU community. Through this engagement, students can hone their leadership skills, with the aim of eventually assuming leadership positions.

This expectation is unsurprising. After all, Hunt Leadership Scholars have received this award on the basis of demonstrated leadership ability. And, when Nancy Ann and Ray L. Hunt established the scholarship, their vision was for the scholars to continue growing in their leadership skills, and to enrich the SMU community as a result.

SMU is especially fertile soil for leadership growth opportunities. The SMU community is large and diverse enough to offer hundreds of organizations with different missions. Yet the community is small enough to permit students to assume meaningful leadership roles within groups that significantly impact the quality of the campus community.

Leadership has ranged across the SMU Student Senate, Greek communities, student representation to the Board of Trustees, Student Foundation, Program Council, The Big Event, and a host of other activities and structures that are integral to the SMU community.

Tate Lecture Series

In 1982, SMU inaugurated the Willis M. Tate Lecture Series. Since then, the Tate Lectures have become one of the premiere public lecture series in the United States. Tickets to lectures regularly sell out soon after the series lineup is announced.

The Hunt Leadership Scholars Program allows Hunt Scholars special opportunities to attend Tate Lectures.

  1. The Tate Series honors the Hunt Leadership Scholars by inviting all the Scholars to a Tate dinner and lecture selected by Ray and Nancy Ann Hunt.  Additionally, prior to the dinner, the Scholars and the Hunts take a group picture with the Tate speaker.
  2. For each Tate lecture throughout the year, ten tickets are given to the Hunt Scholars.
  3. Hunt Scholars serve as ushers for several of the Tate forums, which are question and answer sessions with the speaker, usually on the afternoon of the evening’s lecture

Study Abroad

Understanding and participating in the global community are integral to the success of future leaders. During the spring semester of sophomore year, Hunt Scholars enroll in the Comparative Leadership Course. The course concludes with an international trip; an opportunity to see leadership and organizational change theories in action across a variety of contexts. Airfare and program costs for this experience are covered by the Hunt Scholarship. Since leaders need a rich understanding of global markets, cultures, and governments, destinations and program content are selected to create a relevant and timely program focused on today’s emerging global issues.

students in auditorium smiling and posing for photo
Study Abroad at SMU