Learning to lead
SMU represents a living laboratory for developing and practicing leadership skills. Leadership skills mark the difference between good employees and great leaders. The University is committed to preparing students not only for career success, but for civic leadership as well.

• SMU is one of the few universities in the nation to have a student as a voting student member on its Board of Trustees, which includes several corporate CEOs and the First Lady of the United States.

• Several students serve on Board of Trustees committees. SMU’s active student government makes a real impact on University life. And Program Council offers the opportunity to plan and execute major campus events.

• Through Alternative Spring Break, students trade vacations for service at locations throughout the nation.

• The Community Service House, one of the first of its kind in the Southwest, is home to students who make regular commitments to volunteerism.

• Under the Inter-Community Experience (ICE) Program, students earn academic credit in urban studies classes while they tutor and mentor at-risk children in the inner city. Some SMU students live in the neighborhood to learn firsthand the challenges their young charges face. The program was the idea of a student leader at SMU!

• SMU offers about 200 student organizations where students learn leadership skills while pursuing a passionate interest.

• A unique scholarship program that rewards and encourages leadership, the Nancy Ann and Ray L. Hunt Leadership Scholars Program enables outstanding young men and women to contribute to the vitality of the campus as they prepare for lives of service and influence.