Campaign Update February 2022

Game on!

In January, SMU announced the exciting launch of the Garry Weber End Zone Complex, igniting a new future for Mustang football.

A new era

Sparked by a $50 million commitment from the Garry Weber Foundation – the largest gift in the history of SMU Athletics – the University has undertaken a $100 million drive for the 192,500-square-foot Garry Weber End Zone Complex project at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Click here to view event photos.

Competing at the highest levels

The new three-level complex will increase the functionality, efficiency and overall experience of Mustang Football and its fans. It also continues SMU’s century-long commitment to Athletics excellence.

A new home for graduate education

SMU celebrates the recent groundbreaking of Frances Anne Moody Hall, named for SMU Trustee and Executive Director of the Moody Foundation Frances Anne Moody-Dahlberg ’92.

Investing for impact

The SMU Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies advances the University’s research mission by attracting outstanding graduate students.

From the President

The SMU Ignited campaign for impact continues to galvanize our community to fuel the University’s impact. This month, you will read about exciting news in Mustang Athletics, as well as how our donors are fueling academic successes through new facilities and breakthroughs in research across campus. We hope you enjoy reading about these latest campaign events and the successes our donors make possible. Pony Up!

SMU Ignited more than halfway to goal

Publicly launched in September 2021, SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow has already garnered groundbreaking support from the Mustang community. With over $800 million raised as of February 2022, the campaign is primed to reach its goals of empowering outstanding students, enriching research and teaching, and enhancing our campus and community for future generations.

Q&A with Frances “Francie” Moody-Dahlberg

The SMU Trustee and 1992 alumna is a champion for families and communities throughout Texas. As chairman and executive director of the Moody Foundation, she has strengthened and expanded research and education initiatives across Dallas.

Read full interview

Campus investments are critical to student success, offering spaces to explore ideas, celebrate accomplishments and find new answers to complex questions.

— Frances Moody-Dahlberg ’92

Groundbreaking cervical cancer research

SMU researchers including 2021–2022 Moody Ph.D. Dissertation Fellow Lacin Yapindi, a graduate student in molecular and cellular biology, have found a way to potentially make chemotherapy drugs more effective at killing HPV-infected cervical cancer cells without collateral damage to normal cells.

Nationally recognized coach heads football

In November, SMU celebrated the return of Rhett Lashlee to the Hilltop, this time as head football coach. Welcomed home by both SMU and Dallas leaders, including Mayor Eric Johnson, Lashlee previously served as offensive coordinator for the Mustangs, including during the record-setting 2019 season.

Ashton Woods ’21 nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

Recognizing her years of leadership, service and academic and athletic excellence, SMU alumna Ashton Woods ’21 was named one of 30 top nominees for NCAA’s 2021 Woman of the Year, out of 535 initial nominations from across the country.

Jerry Pittman ’58 drives brighter future for men’s golf

A $2 million commitment from alumnus and former SMU golfer Jerry W. Pittman ’58 will endow and name the head coach position of the SMU men’s golf team, providing ongoing operational support for the program. The Jerry Pittman Head Men’s Golf Coach is the first endowed coach position in the history of SMU Athletics.

Mustang pride: Investing in the future of SMU Athletics

Since Ford Stadium’s dedication and the return of Mustang football to the Hilltop in fall 2000, SMU Athletics has experienced unprecedented growth and success thanks to its generous donors and dedicated staff and athletes. With the addition of the Garry Weber End Zone Complex, SMU Athletics will have invested over $250 million in championship-caliber athletic facilities in just 12 years.

2000

Gerald J. Ford Stadium is dedicated, returning football to the Hilltop.

Loyd All-Sports Center opens with new facilities for Mustang Athletics programs.
2008

SMU celebrates new basketball training hub, Crum Basketball Center.
2013

Ford Stadium celebrates improvements including the new Hall of Champions Club.

Newly renovated Moody Coliseum reopens along with the new Miller Event Center, as one of the premier collegiate arenas and event centers in the country.
2015

The new home for SMU’s tennis teams, the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex, is dedicated, hosting events like the Dallas Open in February 2022.
2017

Payne Stewart SMU Golf Training Center opens at Trinity Forest Golf Club.

Addition of the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium gives SMU a facility capable of hosting conference and national championship events, like the 2022 American Athletic Conference Championships.
2018

Mustang football players cheer the arrival of renovated locker rooms at Ford Stadium, celebrating SMU’s support of its current student-athletes and future recruits.
2019

Indoor Performance Center, featuring Armstrong Fieldhouse, opens with fanfare to celebrate the space’s multifunctionality and benefit to visitors from across SMU’s campus.
2022

SMU breaks ground on the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center’s Holt Hickman Outdoor Pool, making SMU the only American university with indoor and outdoor Olympic pools.

The Hilltop’s newest addition, Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium, will be dedicated on April 8, 2022, supporting SMU’s top-performing soccer and track and field teams and enabling the University to attract recruits of the highest level.

Fostering enterprising spirit

Kim and William C. Shaddock Hall, established through a $6 million gift from Kim and William (Bill) Shaddock ’74, will promote partnerships and industry research for an ever-evolving business landscape, strengthening the Cox School’s position as a leading institution for business education and leadership in North Texas.

Connecting the next generation

A $5 million gift from Katy A. and Kyle D. Miller ’01 will establish the Katy and Kyle Miller Courtyard, which will provide faculty, staff, students and visitors with an open, welcoming environment to exchange ideas, form lifelong friendships and build business associations.

Sparking research and discovery on the Hilltop

A $2 million gift from the O’Donnell Foundation will name and endow the Peter O’Donnell, Jr. Director of the Data Science Institute at SMU in honor of renowned humanitarian Peter O’Donnell, Jr. Supporting SMU’s strategic vision to expand research in this growing discipline, the gift will build on the University’s previous investments in data science.

Atlanta campaign kickoff

Holiday celebrations stretched beyond the Hilltop with a special SMU Ignited event in December hosted by University alumni Jennifer Gelety Flanagan ’82 and SMU Trustee Martin L. Flanagan ’82. Held at their home in Atlanta, Georgia, the event welcomed members from across the Mustang community to celebrate both the season and the campaign.

More photos

March 22

SMU Giving Day
March 22

Meadows at the Meyerson
April 7-10

Founders’ Day Weekend
April 7

Holt Hickman Outdoor Pool groundbreaking at Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center
April 8

Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium dedication
May 6

Cox School of Business renovation and expansion groundbreaking
July 21-24

Taos Cultural Institute

More events

Contact

We are excited to have Mustangs, SMU family and friends involved in SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow. To learn more about how you can achieve your philanthropic objectives and about our plans to think big and do good, please contact your representative at SMU or email smuignited@smu.edu.