Lift As We Climb
March 1st-3rd, 2022
The Women's Symposium was created in 1966 as a part of the University's Fiftieth Anniversary celebration by the late Emmie V. Baine, Dean of Women at SMU from 1962 to 1988. The Symposium is the longest continuously running program of its nature in the country and one of SMU's oldest and most distinguished traditions.
The annual forum brings together women and men of differing ages and multicultural backgrounds to examine and discuss topics of national interest. The Symposium is a product of a year's work by joint committees of students, faculty, and community leaders. The program features nationally recognized speakers as well as topical seminars and workshops conducted by students, community leaders, and SMU faculty and staff.
This is the 57th Annual Women’s Symposium and to celebrate this year, we will be hosting a week-long program inspired by our theme Lift As We Climb. In choosing this theme, we want to honor the legacy of women like Mary Church Terrell, who was one of the founding members of National Association of Colored Women (NACW) who's founding motto was "Lifting as We Climb." This motto spoke directly to the fact that black women were not only fighting for women's suffrage, which at the time was only focused on white women, but they were also fighting for their own civil and human rights. With the theme of "lift as we climb," we want to evoke this legacy that women are not monolithic and that our identities and our issues may differ, but we must work together and lift up all women.
Schedule and Registration coming soon
Core The Podcast
Introducing CORE the PODCAST, an opportunity for all members of the SMU community to participate in the inner-generational dialogue and learning that takes place as part of the Women's Symposium. Listen and Subscribe here.
