SMU UNBRIDLED: THE SECOND CENTURY

SMU Unbridled: The Second Century Campaign, a five-year $750 million fund-raising effort launched Sept. 12, 2008, seeks endowment in three areas:

$200 million for Student Quality to:

  • Expand scholarship programs to attract the brightest students. Campaign quiet phase gifts have added 175 new endowed scholarships, including an expansion of current merit scholarship programs. These gifts include 12 new President's Scholars, making a total of 100, and 26 new Hunt Leadership Scholars, for a total of 73.
     
  • Create innovative scholarships within individual schools and disciplines, such as the Perrine Scholars in English and the Edwin L. Cox B.B.A. Scholars Program, both endowed through campaign quiet phase gifts.
     
  • Expand opportunities to study abroad, by providing scholarships and adding to the current 30 programs offered in 16 countries throughout Europe and in Asia, Australia and Africa, as well as Mexico.
     
  • Establish new programs that foster leadership skills and personal development. SMU students now gain leadership experience through nearly 180 campus organizations.
     
  • Increase fellowships and support for graduate students. SMU currently offers 127 graduate and professional degree programs, including 25 doctorates.

$350 million for Faculty and Academic Excellence to:

  • Increase to 100 the number of endowed academic positions, including department chairs and deanships. Starting with 62 endowed positions in 2006, the quiet phase has added nine new positions for a current total of 71 endowed academic positions. Those established through quiet phase gifts include the Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair in Engineering Education and, in the Cox School of Business, the Bobby B. Lyle Endowed Professorship in Entrepreneurial Studies and David B. Miller Endowed Professorship. SMU currently has a full-time faculty of more than 600.
     
  • Increase by 50 percent the University’s annual external funding for research and sponsored projects. The total for 2006-07 was $20.53 million.
     
  • Endow departments and institutes that provide core academic disciplines as well as those that address emerging issues. SMU now has two endowed academic departments, both in Dedman College — the William P. Clements Department of History and the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, the latter endowed through a campaign quiet phase gift. The Caruth Institute for Engineering Education is one of five new academic institutes, centers and initiatives endowed by quiet phase gifts.
     
  • Increase resources for graduate programs, including resources for faculty research and graduate student fellowships. For example, the C. Vincent Prothro Biological Sciences Initiative in Dedman College, provided by a quiet phase gift, includes an endowed faculty chair, graduate fellowship fund and undergraduate scholarship fund.
     
  • Significantly expand opportunities for undergraduate research.
     
  • Invest in academic facilities and technology to address changing student and faculty needs. Construction projects funded by quiet phase gifts will include new buildings for Perkins School of Theology, the School of Engineering and the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development. The Simmons School was endowed by a quiet phase gift.

$200 million for the Campus Experience to:

  • Create residential colleges or commons as part of a new sophomore housing requirement to strengthen the campus as a close-knit community and enrich the environment for all students. SMU seeks to add residential facilities to accommodate 1,200 additional students living on campus.
     
  • Expand student services in health care, wellness and career placement, among others. The Hegi Family Career Development Center recently expanded its services by adding 65 new internship opportunities for students.
     
  • Enhance competitiveness of the athletics program, which teaches leadership skills and builds community spirit. Examples of new resources supporting this goal include the Crum Basketball Center and Turpin Tennis Stadium, both provided by quiet phase gifts.
     
  • Continue to enrich the campus environment on the main campus in Dallas as well as at SMU-in-Legacy and SMU-in-Taos. Quiet phase gifts from William P. and Rita Clements and others are supporting improvements at SMU-in-Taos, making facilities useable for a new fall semester beginning  in 2009.

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