Marshall Terry, E. A. Lilly Distinguished Professor of English, has influenced generations of SMU students as a gifted teacher, mentor, and writer. His unique roles in both the English Department and the University remain a major influence in SMU’s development as an institution.  In 1963 he helped President Willis M. Tate write the Master Plan, which articulated the mission and values of SMU and lay the foundation for the Strategic Plan in place today.

Terry earned both a Bachelor of Arts (‘53) and a Master of Arts (‘54) from SMU. In addition to twice chairing the English Department, he introduced the creative writing specialty into the English major, founded the nationally recognized SMU Litfest, and has directed SMU programs in Madrid, Oxford, and Taos.

Among Marshall Terry’s nationally praised novels and short stories are Old Liberty, Tom Northway, My Father’s Hands, Land of Hope and Glory, Angels Prostate Fall and The Memorialist. He has earned distinction as a critic and essayist and for his history of SMU, From High on the Hilltop: A Brief History of SMU. His lifetime achievement was honored in 1991 when he received the Barbara McCombs/Lon Tinkle Award for a “career of excellence in letters,” the highest honor of the Texas Institute of Letters. He has also received the Institute’s Jesse H. Jones Fiction Award, and the Short Story Award as well as the PEN Texas Award; and was selected three times for the SMU Rotunda Outstanding Professor Award and twice for the SMU Willis Tate Award for Outstanding Faculty.  In 2003 he was named as a Distinguished Alumnus of SMU