SMU graduates Stephen and Kathryn Arata
honor favorite professor with $1.25 million professorship

DALLAS (SMU) —Two SMU graduates are showing appreciation for a professor who made a lasting impact on their lives by establishing an endowed professorship in his honor.

Jeremy duQuesnay Adams

The $1.25 million gift from Stephen L. and Kathryn Hedges Arata of Dallas will create the Jeremy duQuesnay Adams Centennial Professorship in Western European Medieval History in honor of the longtime SMU professor, who will continue to teach in the University’s Clements Department of History.

“We are honored to have an endowed professorship bearing the name of one of SMU’s most distinguished and revered faculty members,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “We are grateful to the Aratas for their vision and generosity in providing this gift, which supports our Second Century Campaign goal to increase the number of endowed chairs to 100. With the Adams Professorship, the University is within 15 faculty positions of reaching that goal.”

In addition to the Aratas, several other former students of Professor Adams have contributed toward the endowed professorship in his honor. Those contributing $25,000 and more include Cindy and Dr. David Stager, Jr. ’87; Jo ‘90 and Joe Goyne; and Renee Justice Standley ’90 and Kenneth Standley.

Both Stephen and Kathryn Arata majored in English and minored in medieval studies in SMU’s Dedman College. Kathryn earned a B.A. degree in 1987. She also received an M.A. in English from SMU in 1991. Stephen received two degrees from SMU in 1988 — a B.A. from Dedman College and B.B.A. from Cox School of Business. He also earned a Master’s of Management degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Kathryn Arata said, “My parents, the Rev. Bill B. Hedges and Jane Hedges, graduated from SMU in 1960. All of my life I have loved this university, growing up steeped in the SMU culture and history. When I finally arrived on the campus, I was captivated by the quality and variety of the courses offered.  

“Jeremy Adams created a sense of academic curiosity and desire for learning that I possess to this day. Now that Stephen and I are in a position to pay back (actually pay forward) the gifts he gave us, we wanted to do something that would be close to Jeremy’s heart. He is passionate about his subject, and we have given this endowment to ensure that his passion will continue to light the fires of academic curiosity in students for years to come.”

(l. to r.) Kathryn Hedges Arata(seated), Jeremy Adams, Bonnie Wheeler, and Stephen L. Arata.

The Aratas named their son for Jeremy Adams in recognition of the singular effect their beloved professor had on both of them. Jeremy Andrew Arata entered SMU as a Dedman College Scholar this fall and looks forward to learning from the teachers his parents studied with in the 1980s. The Aratas have two younger daughters, Hanna and Julianna.

As an SMU undergraduate, Stephen Arata was a President’s Scholar, a resident adviser and recipient of the “M” Award for distinguished service to the University. He also was a member of the honorary Robert Stewart Hyer Society and Phi Beta Kappa. Both Stephen and Kathryn Arata are current members of the Dedman College Executive Board. Stephen also serves on the Dedman College Committee of the Second Century Campaign and the Executive Board of Cox School of Business.

Stephen Arata now is executive vice president and CFO of Caiman Energy II, LLC, a Dallas-based company focused on providing infrastructure to transport natural gas products from wellhead to market. Before joining Caiman in 2010, he was CFO for Regency Energy Partners LP.  Earlier in his career, he worked for UBS Investment Bank in both Dallas and London. Kathryn Arata is president of Aldersgate Charitable Foundation.

The Adams Professorship is the first Centennial Professorship to be established in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. The “Centennial” designation is a special gift category during SMU’s 100^th anniversary commemoration, 2011-2015. It requires that gifts must meet elevated giving levels and provide a combination of endowment and annual support. Because a faculty position designated as “Centennial” enables the appointment to be made sooner, SMU has initiated a search to fill the Adams Professorship in the 2013-14 academic year.

Professor Adams earned his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. After teaching at Harvard and Yale universities, he joined the SMU faculty in 1974. More than 30 years ago, Adams and his wife, Bonnie Wheeler, associate professor in SMU’s Department of English, were joined by colleagues across the University in co-founding SMU’s Medieval Studies Program. Through the years, Adams’ courses on medieval history have played a central role in the expansion and strong reputation of the interdisciplinary program, which now offers a popular undergraduate minor and major and a master’s degree.  Adams also has taught at and directed SMU study abroad programs in France and Spain and, most frequently, at the SMU-in-Oxford program in England.

The Aratas have fond memories as students of homemade dinners each semester in the home of Jeremy Adams and Bonnie Wheeler, where conversations centered on subjects such as poetry, literature, history and politics. They studied with Adams and Wheeler both on the SMU campus in Dallas and at SMU-in-Oxford.

Adams has received numerous honors during his distinguished academic career. At Yale, he received the DeVane Medal of that university’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter and the national Danforth Foundation’s E. Harris Harbison Award for Gifted Teaching. At SMU, he was awarded the Perrine Prize from SMU’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter and was named an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor. He has received several Outstanding Professor Awards, as well as the “M” Award, SMU’s highest award for distinguished service.  He is the author or editor of seven books and numerous academic articles. 

“This professorship will ensure that the teaching of Western European medieval history will continue at SMU at the high quality level established by Professor Adams,” said Dedman College Dean William Tsutsui. “It underscores our commitment to interdisciplinary teaching and research reflecting Professor Adams’ creative blend of history, literature and other disciplines, which makes medieval history come alive for his students. We are grateful to the Aratas for enabling SMU to recruit an additional distinguished faculty member to fill this professorship.”

The Arata gift of $1.25 million and other gifts for the Adams Professorship count toward the $750 million goal of SMU Unbridled: The Second Century Campaign, which to date has raised more than $631 million to support student quality, faculty and academic excellence and the campus experience. The campaign coincides with SMU’s celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the University’s founding in 1911 and its opening in 1915.

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