Dear Perkins Student:

Welcome to the Perkins community!  You are eagerly expected at the Fall 2009 New Student Orientation.  As Director of Recruitment & Admissions, I am very excited that you will be joining our community.

Fall Orientation is Thursday, August 20, 2009 and will begin at 7:45 a.m. in the Prothro Hall at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, TX.  Attendance to all parts of New Student Orientation is required of all entering students.  You will have an opportunity to meet your student colleagues, peer advisor, faculty members, and administrative staff.  Please plan to park in the Meadows Museum underground parking garage (#60 on your campus map).  You will need to enter the left driveway of the garage.  Once you arrive on campus, proceed to Prothro Hall (#27 on your campus map) to check-in at the Refectory, have your picture made in Prothro 100, and then return to the Refectory to enjoy a continental breakfast.  As we will have a busy day, please dress comfortably for our day together.

Bridwell Library will be hosting an optional seminar on theological research.  Entitled Bridwell 101, the seminar will introduce you to the methods of theological scholarship and research you will be doing as a Perkins student.  There will be two sessions of Bridwell 101, (Wednesday, August 19th or Monday, August 24th and you need only attend one session) that will compliment New Student Orientation. 

To help you plan, we have enclosed the following for your careful review:

 

·   Orientation Schedule

    Hotel Reservation Form (Houston Galveston Students only)

·   Schedule of Courses for the Fall Term

·   Intent to Enroll Form (For those who have not submitted one)

·   Spiritual Formation Fact Sheet

·   Course Planning Guides (MDiv and CMM)

·   Course Request Form

·   SMU Graduate & Professional Loan Information

·   Monthly Payment Plan Options

·   Reading Assignment and Discussion Questions for Orientation

·   Campus Map

·   Registration Guidelines from the Perkins Registrar

·   Memo from  Division 1 on Biblical Languages

·   Mandatory Insurance Information from the Health Center

 

All new students are expected to read The Word of God and the People of God:  Revitalizing Theological Discourse from the Bottom Up by Dr. Joerg Rieger, Wendland-Cook Endowed Professor of Constructive Theology.  This is an essay that you should read and reflect upon prior to orientation.  During orientation we are planning to have small group discussions about the essay and respond to the questions attached to the article. As noted the article is enclosed and you should bring it with you to orientation.

In reference to academic honesty, all incoming Perkins students are required to complete the SMU Academic Honesty Tutorial and Quiz located at http://smu.edu/cms/honesty, print a copy of your completion form and turn it in during New Student Orientation on Thursday, August 20, 2009. 

Registration for Classes

Normally, students at Perkins meet with their academic advisor to discuss which courses they should select for their upcoming semester.  However, as incoming students, the courses that you may select from are formulated to ensure that you will have the pre-requisites to enroll in upper division courses later.  Directions from the Perkins Registrar are available to assist you; course selection and registration happens online at http://access.smu.edu.  

Using the course planning guide, the Perkins Schedule of Classes and following the directions from the Perkins registrar, you will be able to see which courses you should take based on your degree plan.  Students enrolling in our Extension Program should refer to the specific attached course planning guides for Houston-Galveston.  Also, please read the enclosed memo from Division I if you are considering taking a biblical language.  MTS students should remember that the character of the MTS degree is more flexible in the divisional requirements; however, beginning Fall 2009, MTS degree students will be required to complete their study program with either a thesis or a summative project.  Pre-requisites still apply for students in the MTS degree program, but there is no specific course planning guide to chart course options.  Non-degree students should remember their enrollment is valid for one year, and must follow all pre-requisites.

Registration for courses opened to incoming students on June 23, 2009 for Fall 2009 courses.  You can register for courses on-line via http://access.smu.edu using your Login ID (SMU ID number) and password.

SMU ID and login information should have been sent in the mail from the SMU Division of Enrollment Services and Information Technology Services (ITS) after you were admitted.  If you did not receive this information please call the ITS Help Desk at 214-768-4357; when calling, make certain to identify yourself as a new, incoming student.

After logging in, if you find that you do not have registration privileges, it is because you have not returned your Intent to Enroll form.  A copy of the Intent to Enroll form is enclosed.  Please fill it out and fax it to us at 214-768-4245 or email it to me at hcoleman@smu.edu as soon as possible. 

Please note that we have clearly marked the courses available to first-year students in Dallas and Houston-Galveston.   If you are a transfer student from another theological graduate school, please contact Janelle Hampton, Perkins Registrar, prior to registration to determine your eligibility to enroll in other courses (jhampton@smu.edu).

For MSM students, you must first take music exams administered by the Meadows School of the Arts before you can register.  Once these exams have been taken, please contact Dr. Michael Hawn, Director of the Sacred Music program, to learn which classes you may take.  He may be contacted at mhawn@smu.edu.  

Community Life

During orientation, Dallas students will be asked to pay a $30/per year community life fee. The parking rates for the ’09-’10 year are as follows: (9 credits or less per semester) $125, (10 or more credits per semester) $250. For those needing this service, you can register your car and purchase the parking decal on-line at the Park ‘n’ Pony e-business site online in mid-July http://smu.edu/parknpony/.

All new students will have the opportunity to purchase Perkins T-shirts and other Perkins merchandise. (It may be a good idea to bring your checkbook to orientation!)

Also, please be aware that once you have been assigned an SMU e-mail address, SMU e-mail is the only way that we will use to get in touch with you for announcements from our office , including the weekly Perkins Newsletter, so be sure to check your SMU e-mail account regularly.  During Orientation, you will have your SMU ID card made, so please come prepared to have your picture taken. 

 Transportation to Dallas (Extension Program Students)

Students will be asked to provide their own transportation to Dallas.  Current information on Southwest Airlines** can be found at www.southwest.com.

**Prices will vary based on time of purchase.  Perkins is in no way endorsing any particular airline, but has outlined Southwest Airlines flights as only an example of the cost to travel by air to Dallas.

If you are the Houston-Galveston Extension program, Perkins will provide shared accommodations for one night at the Radisson Hotel—Central Dallas.  To register for a hotel room for the evening of August 19th, please complete the Online Hotel Reservation form no later than July 24th. A complimentary hotel shuttle service will be available for transportation to and from Dallas Love Field airport (by calling the hotel at 214-750-6060) and to/from the SMU campus.

Tuition and SMU Housing

If you have made (or are making) arrangements for on-campus housing, SMU residence halls and commuter rooms will be open for move-in as early as Wednesday, August 19th at 9:00 a.m.  You will need to check in at McElvaney Hall (#56 on your campus map) front desk to get your keys.  Please bring a picture ID with you when you check-in.

Your tuition payment is due September 18th. Questions on loans can be directed to Barbara Waters at bwaters@smu.edu.   Tuition and fees for the Fall and Spring terms are $716 per credit hour in Dallas and $633 per credit hour for extension courses.  Please review the enclosed Division of Enrollment Services sheet for payment options.

Other Important Dates

You will need to mark your calendars with a few important dates.  Note the included list of Spiritual Formation Orientation dates and locations in each city.  This orientation is required of all M.Div., C.M.M., and M.S.M. first year students.  

Fall classes begin Monday, August 24th in Houston-Galveston and Thursday, August 27th in Dallas.  This may vary, however, based on your individual class schedule.

Please read all of your orientation materials carefully and thoroughly.  Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.  If you have relocated, we ask that you forward your new address and phone number to the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid at your earliest convenience.  I look forward to having you in the Perkins community.  See you at orientation on Thursday, August 20th!

Sincerely,

 

Herbert S. Coleman, II

Director, Recruitment & Admissions

P.S.

A few books (available at Cokesbury) that might be helpful as you prepare for your first year of seminary include:

How to Think Theologically by Howard W. Stone and James O. Duke

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Jerome Adler

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Seminary Student Writes by Deborah Core

Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms by Donald K. McKim.