The Second Century Celebration

In 2011-12 SMU marked the second year of The Second Century Celebration, a five-year period commemorating the 100th anniversary of SMU’s founding in 1911 and opening in 1915. In addition to honoring the past, The Second Century Celebration also is designed to highlight the University’s present and future as a top educational institution with impact on the region and the nation.

The Second Century Celebration runs concurrently with and supports the goals of The Second Century Campaign, the largest fundraising initiative in SMU’s history. The campaign is having an impact on every aspect of the University, enhancing student quality, faculty and academic excellence and the campus experience.

The Second Century Celebration includes special events, exhibitions and publications, including The Power of Partnership: SMU Community and Economic Impact Report. The commemoration of this special time in SMU’s history is enabling the University community, including alumni around the world, to reconnect with the University, provide essential support and help chart a course for SMU’s future.

SMU hosts Centennial Academic Symposium

“The University and the City: Higher Education and the Common Good” was the topic for SMU’s 2011 Centennial Symposium in November, held as part of the University’s centennial commemoration. Presenters included executives, leaders in public service, several SMU deans and professors and other education leaders. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, speaking at the event, stressed the need for the city to have a “close association with higher education,” adding “I am humbled to be a mayor who has a university the quality of SMU here.” Attendees also heard from SMU students whose service is making a difference in the Dallas area. Henry S. Bienen, president emeritus of Northwestern University (right), the symposium’s featured speaker, presented an address titled “Reflections on a University in a Great City.”

Campus enhancements help mark centennial

A host of campus amenities and initiatives were unveiled in conjunction with SMU’s centennial commemoration in September 2011. SMU dedicated the new R. Gerald Turner Centennial Quadrangle, funded through gifts from current and former members of the Board of Trustees. The Quadrangle also provides the setting for the Cooper Centennial Fountain, funded by a gift from Susan Smith Cooper ’62 and William R. Cooper ’58, as well as the Gail O. and R. Gerald Turner Centennial Pavilion.

SMU also opened Centennial Hall, a visitors’ center for the centennial celebration. The exhibit, located on the first level of Hughes-Trigg Student Center, includes a historical timeline (right), videos and interactive features. It received tens of thousands of visitors in its first year of operation.

Centennial Promenade, a vital new pedestrian walkway that will link the Hughes-Trigg Student Center with the new Residential Commons Complex, is slated for completion in 2015. SMU announced a gift from the Crain Foundation to name the Crain Family Centennial Promenade. Members of the SMU community also are participating in the project through $100 contributions for pavers to be placed on the Promenade.

Founders’ Day highlights Centennial, Campaign

SMU celebrated its second annual Founders’ Day Weekend April 20-21 with activities highlighting The Second Century Celebration and The Second Century Campaign. More than 1,500 alumni and friends participated in one or more events during the week.

A midday “centennial celebration” for the University community April 20 commemorated the kickoff of the next phase of campus development chartered in the 1995 Centennial Master Plan. As part of the gathering, SMU broke ground on several new projects and looked ahead to the completion of others already under way. The event included the dedication of the Centennial Cornerstone, a permanent tribute to the 100-year development of SMU’s campus, begun in 1912. Members of the SMU community placed messages in the cornerstone to be opened in 2065, at the 50th reunion of the Centennial Class of 2015.

The day continued with Inside SMU, the University’s way of providing alumni and donors with exposure to SMU faculty through informal courses. SMU’s most generous annual donors were welcomed at the President’s Associates afternoon reception. Following the reception, President R. Gerald Turner presented the annual President’s Briefing, outlining SMU’s progress during the previous year.

SMU hosted its annual Golden Mustang Reunion the following morning. The weekend concluded with a Family Day at the Meadows Museum featuring children’s activities (including a falconer) and was attended by more than 750 people.

Homecoming features fun and football, highlights SMU-Dallas partnership

SMU commemorated its 2011 Centennial Homecoming in November with a variety of events and activities celebrating the spirit of SMU. To emphasize the role that Dallas played in SMU’s founding, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings served as parade grand marshal. Mayor Rawlings and his wife, Micki, were driven by Harvey Carter ’78 in his award-winning 1916 Stutz Bearcat (right). Other festivities included: presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Awards; special Centennial Reunions; “Pigskin Revue,” featuring the Mustang Band; The Boulevard; and a football game in which the Mustangs beat Tulane. SMU also published a book highlighting the University’s beautiful campus, SMU: Unbridled Vision, containing more than 200 new color photographs as well as selected historic images.

Report highlights impact

SMU released The Power of Partnership: SMU Community and Economic Impact Report in April, highlighting the University’s unique contributions to Dallas-Fort Worth and the return on the region’s investment in SMU during its first 100 years. More than 400 civic and business leaders gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas April 17 to hear President R. Gerald Turner and other speakers discuss the report’s content and the University’s ongoing progress. The report details SMU’s impact as an educational, cultural and public service resource as well as its economic impact. To read the full report, please visit smu.edu/impact. Here is a summary:

ECONOMIC IMPACT

SMU contributes to the economic strength of Dallas and the region.

Annual Impact of Expenditures on Regional Economy $7 billion
(Includes impact of SMU spending for operations, capital projects and scholarships plus impact of spending by students, visitors and SMU alumni in the region.)

Total Assets $4 billion
(Includes $1.2 billion endowment, real estate market value, buildings, equipment, art, special collections, cash, receivables and pledges.)

Campus Property

University Park 216 acres
Dallas 19 acres
Highland Park 2 acres
Plano 25 acres
Taos, New Mexico 423 acres

INTELLECTUAL IMPACT

As a leading national university, SMU is integral to the strength and growing global reputation of the region.

ACADEMIC PROFILE

Outstanding Programs

• College of Humanities and Sciences; Schools of Business, Arts, Engineering, Education and Human Development, Law and Theology
• Highly ranked as a national university by U.S. News & World Report and other guides
• 103 undergraduate degree programs in 91 fields
• 104 master’s degree programs in 101 fields
• 27 doctoral degree programs

Distinguished Faculty

• 705 scholar-teachers from throughout the world
• Faculty are members of prestigious national academies, including National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and National Academy of Engineering

Research

• One of 96 universities classified as having “high research activity”
• Faculty engaged in cutting-edge research projects such as identifying new geothermal energy formations and combating Parkinson’s disease

Student Profile

• 11,000 students (6,200 undergraduate; 4,800 graduate students)
• Average SAT score increased 134 points over last 16 years from 1140 to 1274, with goal of achieving 1300 average by 2015
• Applications have risen from 8,600 in 2007 to 13,601 in 2012
• 404 new endowed scholarships added since 1997
• 25 percent minority students
• 50 percent students from outside Texas
• 10 percent foreign students from 90 countries
• 70 percent students receiving merit- or need-based aid

PUBLIC SERVICE IMPACT

SMU gives back to the community through public service.

• Heavily engaged in public service in the region through classes that include service-learning and through volunteer service projects of campus organizations
• 2,500-plus undergraduate students provide each year more than 200,000 hours of public service in the region

CULTURAL IMPACT

SMU is a major cultural resource for the community.

• More than 300,000 visitors come annually to SMU for cultural events, lectures, athletics events and other programs.
• Campus museums include the world-renowned Meadows Museum, housing one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside Spain.
• 400-plus music, dance and theatre performances are presented each year to the public.
• Public programs sponsored by Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series, TEDxSMU, Hart Global Leaders Forum, John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies and Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.
• Nine libraries house the largest private collection of research materials in the Southwest, including the archives of Stanley Marcus, JCPenney, Texas Instruments and Belo Corporation.
• SMU offers the only Division I athletics program in Dallas, to be strengthened by its move to the BIG EAST in 2013.

ALUMNI IMPACT

SMU produces great leaders who make a positive difference in the world.

• 112,000 alumni worldwide, 40,000 in the Dallas region
• Recipients of Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, along with Academy, Tony, Grammy and Emmy awards, the Heisman Trophy and Olympic gold medals
• Renowned leaders ranging from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and astronauts to government officials, among them ambassadors and First Lady of the United States, Supreme Court Justices in Japan, the Philippines and Thailand

BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER IMPACT

SMU’s hosting of the George W. Bush Presidential Center will enrich the community and attract visitors from around the globe.

• The Bush Presidential Center at SMU will be an invaluable asset to Dallas and the region, attracting about 450,000 visitors and scholars in the first year alone.
• SMU will be among the few universities in the nation to house a presidential center on campus and part of a trio of presidential libraries in Texas.

FUTURE IMPACT

SMU enters its second century with great excitement and confidence because of its core strengths:

• Powerful legacy of achievement now ingrained as an unrelenting desire to succeed
• Proven access to private financial resources enabling it to meet its goals
• Strategic geographic location – DFW region – for executing its plans
• Strong focus on implementing high-impact initiatives, including new interdisciplinary studies, service-learning, global programs and research, along with major faculty hires
• Dedicated, forward-looking leadership that will ensure that the University achieves its goals