2019

Sometimes people lose the ability to experience or even recognize joy -- a type of depression called anhedonia. SMU psychology professors Alicia Merit and Thomas Ritz, working with a colleague at UCLA, are beginning to enroll patients in a study that focuses on re-teaching people to experience and identify joy. Their five-year project is funded by a $4 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

SMU history professor Jo Guldi’s book, The History Manifesto, recently was named one of the most influential books of the past 20 years by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Dr. King’s words continue to inspire us. As we begin each new year together, we celebrate SMU Dream Week to honor Dr. King’s lifetime of dedicated, persistent work and the values he championed – including individual dignity and worth, inclusion, civic participation, open dialogue and civil debate. These concepts are at the very core of SMU’s academic mission and a welcoming community, in which all are valued and able to pursue their goals and do their best work.

SMU’s ability to cultivate and launch entrepreneurs for North Texas and beyond received a major boost with a significant new gift from prominent Dallas business leaders and major SMU supporters Linda Wertheimer Hart ’65 and Milledge (Mitch) A. Hart, III. The Harts now are among SMU’s most generous donors.

On Thursday, Jan. 31, the Catholic Diocese of Dallas released a list of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors since 1950. Two of the priests on the list were identified by the diocese as having been previously associated with Catholic Campus Ministry at SMU, which provides services for SMU students but is not part of the University. Neither were SMU employees.

SMU experts are available to analyze political landmines and presidential goals in the runup to the Feb. 5 State of the Union address.

Important discussions have been taking place across the country in recent weeks regarding disturbing and offensive images and texts in college and university yearbooks. Such images, including of individuals in blackface, are stark historical reminders of the racism and bigotry that continue to challenge our nation today.

SMU takes a giant leap forward in the rapidly shifting digital frontier with today’s groundbreaking of the Gerald J. Ford Hall for Research and Innovation. The new 50,000-square-foot interdisciplinary research hub will equip faculty, students and industry partners with tools and resources to collaborate, solve complex problems and power new enterprises.

Longtime SMU supporter, former member of the SMU Board of Trustees and civic leader Gene H. Bishop died Friday, February 22. His legacy of financial leadership, business savvy and community service helped drive Dallas’ dynamic growth for more than half a century.

The United Methodist Church voted on Tuesday, February 26, at a special session of the General Conference to accept the Traditional Plan, which will exclude the ordination of LGBTQ clergy and the marriage of same-sex persons.

There’s a new Texas dinosaur on the books. SMU postdoctoral fellow Kate Andrzejewski, with University paleontologists Dale Winkler and Louis Jacobs, have identified Convolosaurus marri from fossils collected at Proctor Lake, southwest of Fort Worth.

Military veterans aspiring to SMU’s innovative graduate education in engineering and business have a new scholarship opportunity with The Milledge A. Hart, III Scholarship Fund for Veterans of the United States Marine Corps.

Doug Parker, chairman and chief executive officer of American Airlines Group Inc. and its subsidiary, American Airlines, will be the featured speaker during SMU’s May Commencement Convocation at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 18, in Moody Coliseum.

The Maguire Energy Institute at SMU Cox School of Business honored three oil industry leaders with awards April 10.

SMU football player, NFL Hall-of-Famer, coach and administrator Forrest Gregg died April 12, 2019.

The award, given by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), recognizes educators who have made notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics.

Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People journalist Bianca R. Montes interviewed Joel Meyers, an assistant professor of physics at SMU, to make sense of what scientists learned from the first-ever image of a black hole, which was revealed by the Event Horizon Telescope last Wednesday.

The academic deans leading SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering, Dedman School of Law and Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences have been reappointed to serve in their positions for an additional five years.

Robert “Bob” L. Zollars of Dallas, Texas, longtime SMU supporter and co-founder, chairman and CEO of Huitt-Zollars, Inc., died April 20, 2019.

“He was one of the most dynamic individuals that I have ever known,” said R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Turner considered Banowsky a close colleague. The two worked together at Pepperdine University and OU.

SMU will present honorary degrees to Dallas historic preservationist Virginia McAlester and Chobani yogurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya at the University’s Commencement Convocation at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 18, at Moody Coliseum.

The SMU Cox School of Business honored four alumni at the school’s annual Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards Luncheon on May 10. Two Distinguished Alumni Awards and two Outstanding Young Alumni Awards were presented at the luncheon ceremony in the Collins Executive Center on the SMU campus.

An international team of researchers, including SMU anthropologist David Meltzer, discovered a new group of ancient Siberians. The research was published June 5, 2019 as a story in Nature.

Bromberg bequest inspired by lifelong interests in art, the law and education

Additional $2 million dollar gift expands endowment and current operational funding

The SMU community mourns the loss of H. Ross Perot, who died July 9 at the age of 89.

Talking to Strangers examines why interactions with strangers often go wrong and how to make them go right

Agreement underscores busy rail station’s proximity to campus neighbor

New Indoor Performance Center features Armstrong Fieldhouse

SMU mourns the loss of legendary Texas oil and gas magnate and entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens, who died September 11, 2019 at the age of 91.

The ambassadors are encouraged to share their stories of being women innovators, in hopes it inspires the next generation of women to get into science, technology, engineering and math [STEM].

By gathering information from smartphones in passing cars, an SMU professor and students aim to check the bridge’s structural health.

A $5 million gift from Dallas art collectors and patrons Nancy C. and Richard R. Rogers extends their long-standing support of artists by establishing a vibrant hub for the visual arts at SMU.

Dallas entrepreneur, industry leader and educator Bobby B. Lyle ’67 builds on the farsighted generosity that named the Lyle School of Engineering 11 years ago by designating $10 million to power a new strategic vision for the school.

SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts paved the way toward the future of arts education with today’s kickoff of the Owen Arts Center renovation during SMU Homecoming Weekend. The $34 million initiative will improve academic spaces in the north wing for visual arts, art history and creative computation, while creating grand, welcoming and accessible exterior entrances.

SMU Geophysicists say that evidence of leak occurring in a West Texas wastewater disposal well between 2007 and 2011 should raise concerns about the current potential for contaminated groundwater.

New NASA-funded research from SMU found a “…large swath of West Texas oil patch is heaving and sinking at alarming rates.”

I would like to provide an update regarding our relationship with the United Methodist Church (UMC) in response to the ongoing debate over the future organizational structure of the Church.

Elizabeth Loboa will join SMU as provost and vice president for academic affairs on July 6, 2020. As chief academic officer for the University, she will be responsible for the overall quality of teaching, scholarship and research and all aspects of academic life, ranging from admissions and faculty development to supervision of SMU’s eight schools, library system, and international programs.

A treasure-hunting smartphone app developed by SMU and Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT) to help low-literate adults learn to read tied for the grand prize Thursday in the competition hosted by the Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE.

Each year, SMU honors four outstanding leaders in philanthropy, business and civic life with the highest honor the University can bestow upon its graduates.

SMU will take a major step forward in serving the talent and research needs of a challenging world, thanks to a landmark $100 million commitment from the Moody Foundation that will fund the University’s eighth degree-granting school – the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.

Carolyn L. and David B. Miller ’72, ’73 have made history with a $50 million gift to SMU. This unprecedented commitment will drive innovative education in SMU’s Edwin L. Cox School of Business. It also builds on the Millers’ decades-long support for academics, athletics, student scholarships and other areas to benefit generations of world changers.

In honor of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., SMU will hold its annual campus Unity Walk at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, to commemorate King’s core values – faith, education, nonviolence, love, leadership, community and hope.

A revolutionary approach in higher education to ensure that every member of the Southern Methodist University community is equipped with the skills and knowledge to manage and communicate effectively in complex cultural contexts.