David J. Meltzer
Henderson-Morrison Professor of Anthropology
Director of Quest Archaeological Research Program
National Academy of Sciences member
In five years, Dedman College will:
-
Compete nationally for the top undergraduates in the liberal arts. We will attract the highest achieving students through enhanced academic scholarship programs, personalized teaching and advising, innovative curricular options and one of America's best hands-on research programs for undergraduates.
-
Be the home to thriving, nationally respected graduate programs. We will attract, train and place exceptional graduate students with competitive stipend and benefits packages, new degrees and certificates and expanded opportunities in leading-edge research.
-
Achieve recognition nationally and internationally for the caliber of its faculty. We will increase the size of the faculty and the number of endowed professorships. We will continue to recruit and support faculty members who are passionate teachers and inspired, productive scholars.
-
Be an engine of funded research, expanding knowledge and improving human life. We will substantially increase research activity through enhanced organizational infrastructure, expanded physical space, stronger graduate programs and new investments in technology.
-
Cultivate a dynamic and thoroughly interdisciplinary intellectual community. We will stimulate discovery across the liberal arts, creating a new interdisciplinary institute of national prominence that transcends the boundaries between the humanities and sciences, teaching and research, theory and practice.
-
Emerge as a catalyst for change in Dallas. We will support the growth, health and intellectual vitality of our region through ambitious partnerships with leading institutions, enhanced community service initiatives and engaged public scholarship.
In five years, Dedman College will be a model for American higher education, combining the best of the modern research university with the best of the liberal arts tradition. Dedman College will support – and lead – SMU as the institution rises to become one of the top 50 national universities. And while Dedman College will boast many of the qualities of prestigious colleges of arts and sciences, it will retain a distinctive character, born of its abiding strengths, its historic values and its deep roots in Dallas.