Southern Methodist University

SMU And Dallas Advantages
For Bush Presidential Library

  • SMU offers the benefits of a comprehensive university, providing opportunities for joint programming with the George W. Bush Presidential Center in areas such as political science, law, history, theology, ethics and entrepreneurship.

  • SMU’s Dallas location ensures easy access to visitors from throughout the world. The Bush Presidential Center will be situated on major thoroughfares in one of the nation’s largest population centers. The University is easily accessible from U.S. Highway 75 (Central Expressway) and is near one of the city’s busiest light rail stations. The nearby area is enjoying a resurgence of development, including a major new hotel and condominiums at Mockingbird Lane and Central Expressway, a few blocks from the SMU campus.

  • The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the nation's fifth largest metropolitan area, is home to more than five million residents. The city of Dallas attracts about 25 million visitors a year and an additional 3.5 million annually for conventions.

  • The Metroplex is served by Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which accommodates 59 million passengers a year, a number expected to double by 2010; and Love Field, serving six million passengers annually and located only 15 minutes from SMU.

  • Dallas-Fort Worth is a center of enterprise, with 22 Fortune 500 companies. Dallas ranks fourth in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters.

  • Dallas offers more than 65,000 hotel rooms, including accommodations at 21 five-, four-, and three-star hotels, many of them only minutes from SMU.

  • SMU has a history of bringing national and world leaders to campus for lectures and other events. Among past speakers are four United States presidents, six U.S. secretaries of state, nine U.S. senators, two U.S. Supreme Court justices, eight Nobel laureates and 12 Pulitzer Prize winners. Distinguished campus visitors have included President George W. Bush; former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and the late Gerald R. Ford; former British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major; Vice President Dick Cheney and former Vice President Al Gore; and heads of state from countries including the former Soviet Union, Spain and South Africa.

  • Dallas has the security infrastructure and experience to accommodate high-profile visitors.

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