> Visit SMU Dining Services online

• Robert Kehoe, Physics, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
• Dennis Simon, Political Science, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
• Paige Ware, Teaching and Learning, Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development

The award winners became part of “a strong list of distinguished faculty who have served SMU extraordinarily well and whose examples continue to energize SMU and encourage each of us,” said Associate Provost Harold Stanley in presenting the honors.

The award, given by the Provost’s Office, honors three faculty members each year for service and activities that benefit students and the University’s academic mission.

The following individuals received tenure or promotion in May 2013:

Cox School of Business

Recommended for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor:

• Maribeth Kuenzie, Management and Organizations

Recommended for promotion to Full Professor:

• Kumar Venkataraman, Finance

Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Recommended for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor:

• Sabri Ates, History
• Pamela Corley, Political Science
• Pavel Nadolsky, Physics
• William (Luke) Robinson, Philosophy
• John Wise, Biological Sciences

Recommended for promotion to Full Professor:

• Vladimir Ajaev, Mathematics
• Denise DuPont, World Languages (Spanish)
• Serge Frolov, Religious Studies
• Werner Horsthemke, Chemistry
• Robert Howell, Philosophy
• Bonnie Jacobs, Earth Sciences
• Alexis McCrossen, History
• Renee McDonald, Psychology
• David Son, Chemistry

Lyle School of Engineering

Recommended for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor:

• Usama El-Shamy, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• LiGuo Huang, Computer Science and Engineering

Recommended for promotion to Full Professor:

• Paul Krueger, Mechanical Engineering
• Dinesh Rajan, Electrical Engineering

Meadows School of the Arts

Recommended for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor:

• Sarah Allen, Music
• Jack Greenman, Theatre
• Xi Wang, Music

Recommended for promotion to Full Professor:

• Ira Greenberg, Creative Computation

Perkins School of Theology

Recommended for promotion to Full Professor:

• Elaine Heath, Evangelism
• Evelyn Parker, Practical Theology

Four SMU professors were honored with 2013 Ford Research Fellowships during the University’s May Board of Trustees meeting (left to right): Thomas Ritz, Bonnie Jacobs, Michael Corris and Suku Nair.

Four exemplary SMU researchers have been chosen as the University’s 2013 Ford Research Fellows. This year’s recipients are Michael Corris, Art, Meadows School of the Arts; Bonnie Jacobs, Earth Sciences, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences; Suku Nair, Computer Science and Engineering, Lyle School of Engineering; and Thomas Ritz, Psychology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

Established in 2002 through a $1 million pledge from SMU Trustee Gerald J. Ford, the fellowships help the University retain and reward outstanding scholars. Each recipient receives a cash prize for research support during the year.

Learn more about the new Fellows under the link.

Michael Corris, chair and professor of art, has established himself as a highly respected critic, historian and practitioner of art, with a focus on contemporary and modern and special attention to Anglo-American conceptual art of the past 50 years. As a critic and historian, Corris has published and lectured widely on this movement and its relation to the art of today, producing numerous monographs, volumes, articles and book chapters. His work is widely cited, and he is regularly invited to present at universities, art schools and organizations in the United States and abroad, including the Royal College of Art in London; the Art, Culture and Technology Program at MIT; and the San Francisco Art Institute. As a practitioner, he has displayed his work at venues including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the Musée d’Art Modern et Contemporain in Geneva, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Bonnie Jacobs is one of the world’s leading experts on the fossil plants of Africa. Her research lies at the intersection of the physical Earth and the biosphere as recorded in rocks ranging in age from 1,000 years to 110 million years before present. She is one of only a few scientists with expertise in the ecosystem conditions of equatorial Africa during this time span, which encompasses periods of significant climate change. Data on the environmental conditions in the tropics during earlier periods of global warming are critical to testing and improving models that are currently in use to predict climate change today. Her work has been published in 46 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals and is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Jacobs, a professor in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, currently advises two graduate students and teaches many core courses for the undergraduate program in Environmental Science.

Suku Nair, chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, is a leader in the emerging field of cybersecurity, which is rapidly expanding due to its importance to national, corporate and personal security. He has published more than 125 peer-reviewed articles in journals and highly selective proceedings volumes. He has supervised the completion of 12 Ph.D.s and one Doctor of Engineering, and his students have emerged as leaders in academia, government and industry, including placements at SMU, Mississippi State, the National Security Agency (NSA), Cisco and Erickson. Nair is the founding director of SMU’s HACNet Lab, the premier cybersecurity research lab in the Southwest, and has established an NSA Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education and an NSF center in collaboration with other North Texas universities.

Thomas Ritz, professor of psychology, is an internationally renowned researcher in the field of psychobiology and its application to respiratory disease. He has published 82 peer-reviewed articles, 11 book chapters, a monograph and a book, and has presented his work at more than 40 conferences. His research has identified the mechanisms by which stress and emotion lead to airway obstruction, inflammation and symptoms in asthma. Working with his colleagues, Ritz has developed a behavioral intervention for asthma that mitigates symptoms and enables improved control of the condition – results with considerable societal significance given the significant public-health burden imposed by the disease. In addition, he has investigated the role of hyperventilation as a risk factor for fainting in blood-phobic patients, and respiration-controlled respiratory sinus arrhythmia as a measure of parasympathetic activity.

In addition to the award, each honoree received a tote bag containing items ranging from season tickets to memberships to logo sportswear. The gifts were donated by SMU Athletics, the SMU Bookstore, SMU Dining Services, Meadows Museum and Meadows Theatre.

This year’s winners:

• Carole Harris, Music, Meadows School of the Arts
• Carolyn Harrod, Biological Sciences, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
• Margaux Montgomery, Economics, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
• Stephanie Murray, Mechanical Engineering, Lyle School of Engineering
• Charee Stewart, Philosophy, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

This year, as a campuswide thank-you to the staff, Faculty Senate President Steve Edwards presented dining coupons for RFoC @ Lee to each senator to take a deserving staff member to lunch. In addition, all staff members nominated for the Faculty Senate awards received dining certificates, as well as their nominators.

All lectures take place at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium.

The upcoming season at a glance:

• Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013 - Senior statesmen and former U.S. Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, joined by returning moderator David Gergen, former presidential advisor and CNN senior political commentator
• Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013 - Robert Caro, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for his acclaimed multivolume biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson
• Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013 - Sir Ken Robinson, expert on creativity, innovation and human resources and author of New York Times bestseller Finding Your Element; named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world
• Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013 - Erskine Bowles, former White House Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, and Alan Simpson, former U.S. Senator from Wyoming, co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
• Thursday, March 4, 2014 - Garry Kasparov, world chess champion and global human rights activist; author of How Life Imitates Chess
• Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - A.J. Jacobs, Esquire editor-at-large and “human guinea pig”; author of the bestsellers Drop Dead Healthy and The Know-It-All
• Monday, May 5, 2014 - Longtime National Public Radio correspondents and news analysts Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer

For more information, visit the Tate Distinguished Lecture Series website.

The traditional post-Commencement celebration takes place 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, May 23, on the south lawn of Clements Hall. The festivities will include picnic food favorites and several prize contests. Food will be served 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

> Visit the SMU Staff Association online

SMU observes its 98th Commencement May 17-18 with events for students, faculty, alumni and the entire community.

Former U.S. Senator from Texas Kay Bailey Hutchison will speak at the all-University ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 18, to be held on the University’s historic Main Quad. She will also receive an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University in recognition of her distinguished career in public service and support of higher education, especially in the areas of science and engineering. SMU expects to award approximately 1,500 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.

The ceremony will be simulcast live at smu.edu/live. 

> Follow SMU’s 98th Commencement weekend on Twitter at #SMUgrad2013

In 1993, Hutchison became the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. She was re-elected three times. She also joined Margaret Chase Smith as one of only two women in Senate history to be elected to Republican leadership. As Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, she was the fourth-highest ranking Republican senator.

Hutchison served as the Ranking Member on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice and Science. She also chaired the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee and served on Defense Appropriations for 16 years.

Throughout her career in the U.S. Senate, Hutchison worked to improve and expand higher education opportunities for students. She has championed advancements in science, technology, engineering and math education and helped thousands of Texans earn college degrees who could not have otherwise gained access to higher education. Through her efforts, research at Texas universities has grown to make the state among the top three for university research in the nation.

Hutchison’s efforts also helped bring more than $20 million in federal funds for research projects to SMU. Some of the projects that have been funded through her efforts include the Infinity Project, a math- and science-based engineering and technology education initiative; various NASA and national defense projects; high-tech visual equipment development; and biotechnology projects. In addition to science, technology, engineering and math projects, Hutchison has established the Ray and Kay Bailey Hutchison Scholarship at SMU’s Dedman School of Law and the Hutchison Legal Resource Learning Center.

> Read more about Kay Bailey Hutchison from SMU News

The University will also confer honorary degrees upon four other individuals in recognition of distinguished contributions in their fields:

• James Robert (Bob) Biard will receive the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, for his outstanding contributions in the field of optoelectronics. Biard received the world’s first patent for the light-emitting diode (LED) during his career with Texas Instruments.
• Swanee Hunt will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for her efforts toward world peace and gender parity. Hunt, former U.S. ambassador to Austria, is founder and president of the Institute for Inclusive Security, which trains women peace builders around the globe.
• Francis Christopher Oakley will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for his distinguished contributions to higher education as a scholar and administrator. Oakley is the Edward Dorr Griffin Professor of the History of Ideas and president emeritus of Williams College, where he led establishment of the tutorial form of instruction.
• Bryan A. Stevenson will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for his efforts to achieve social equity through criminal justice reform. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair treatment in the legal system.

> Read more about the 2013 honorary degree recipients

In addition, nine retiring faculty members will be recognized during Saturday’s Commencement Convocation:

• William Beauchamp, associate professor of French, Dedman College
• David Blackwell, William B. Hamilton Chair in Earth Sciences, Dedman College
• Robert C. Davis, associate professor of mathematics, Dedman College
• Margaret (Maggie) H. Dunham, professor of computer science and engineering, Lyle School of Engineering
• Charles (Charley) Helfert, associate professor of theatre, Meadows School of the Arts
• Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics and former dean of Perkins School of Theology
• Bijan Mohraz, professor of civil and environmental engineering, Lyle School of Engineering.
• Laurence (Larry) Scholder, professor of art, Meadows School of the Arts
• Linda Brewster Stearns, professor of sociology, Dedman College

The weekend’s activities include the Baccalaureate service Friday, May 17, in McFarlin Auditorium. The service will be followed by Rotunda Recessional, a tradition in which seniors march through the Rotunda of Dallas Hall, marking the end of their undergraduate years and the beginning of their lifelong association with SMU as alumni.

> More information at the SMU Registrar’s Commencement homepage

Some major events at a glance:

• May 17 – Free public symposium honoring Doctor of Science honoris causa recipient Bob Biard, 11 a.m., Huitt-Zollars Seminar Room, Embrey Engineering Building
• May 17 – Free public symposium honoring Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa recipient Francis Oakley, 1:30 p.m., Texana Room, DeGolyer Library
• May 17-18 – Class of 1963 Golden Reunion, various times and locations
• May 17 – Baccalaureate service for undergraduates with SMU Trustee and United Methodist Bishop Michael McKee delivering the featured speech, followed by Rotunda Recessional, 8 p.m., McFarlin Auditorium
• May 18 – Faculty Breakfast and Distinguished University Citizen Awards presentation, 7:45 a.m., The Varsity, Hughes-Trigg Student Center (RSVP online for the Faculty Breakfast and processional)
• May 18 – All-University Commencement, 9 a.m., Main Quad
• May 18 – Commencement Buffet Luncheon, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., RFoC @ Lee, Umphrey Lee Center
• May 18 – School diploma presentations, various times and locations

(Above, photo from Baccalaureate 2012 by Guy Rogers III.)

The five individuals who will receive honorary SMU degrees on Saturday each have made distinguished contributions in their fields:

• James Robert (Bob) Biard will receive the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, for his outstanding contributions in the field of optoelectronics. Biard received the world’s first patent for the light-emitting diode (LED), now ubiquitous in devices ranging from digital clocks and remote controls to television screens and traffic lights. He holds more than 75 patents for his inventions. Biard is an adjunct professor of electrical engineering at Texas A&M.

• Swanee Hunt will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for her efforts toward world peace and gender parity. Hunt was ambassador to Austria during the Balkan War and helped host programs aimed at stabilizing the neighboring Balkan states. She is founder and president of the Institute for Inclusive Security, which trains women peace builders around the globe. She also is a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

• Kay Bailey Hutchison will receive the degree of Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa, for her distinguished career in public service and support of higher education. Hutchison is the first woman to represent Texas in the United States Senate, serving from 1993 to 2012. During her years in the Senate, she expanded higher education opportunities for thousands of Texans and championed advancements in science, technology, engineering and math education. Hutchison helped bring to SMU more than $20 million in federal research funds.

• Francis Christopher Oakley will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for his distinguished contributions to higher education as a scholar and administrator. Oakley is the Edward Dorr Griffin Professor of the History of Ideas and president emeritus of Williams College, where he led establishment of the tutorial form of instruction. He has written 13 books and served as president of the American Council of Learned Societies.

• Bryan A. Stevenson will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for his efforts to achieve social equity through criminal justice reform. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair treatment in the legal system. Stevenson also is a professor of clinical law at New York University School of Law.

Bob Biard will participate in an 11 a.m. symposium in his honor Friday, May 17, in the Huit-Zollars Seminar Room, Embrey Engineering Building. The public seminar will describe the events leading up to the invention of the first LED by Biard and Gary Pittman at Texas Instruments in 1962. (Pittman received a B.S. degree in chemistry with honors from SMU in 1953.) Also included will be a discussion of continuing developments in semiconductor light-emitting devices leading to the Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL).

Francis Oakley will participate in a symposium in his honor at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in the Texana Room, DeGolyer Library. The symposium is open to the public, and Oakley will respond to remarks made by Charles Curran, SMU’s Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values; Texas A&M Professor Cary Nederman, an expert in medieval political thought; Bruce Basington, Regents Professor at West Texas A&M; and Willard Spiegelman, SMU’s Dwaine E. Hughes, Jr., Distinguished Professor of English, who was one of Oakley’s undergraduate students. A reception will follow at the home of Jeremy Adams, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor in the William P. Clements Department of History.

Swanee Hunt will be featured at an invitation-only luncheon and symposium in her honor from noon to 3 p.m. Friday in the Dedman School of Law’s Karcher Auditorium, Storey Hall. The symposium is titled “Demand Abolition” and will address the topics of sex trafficking and prostitution.

> More about SMU’s 2013 Commencement from SMU News
> Visit the Registrar’s May Commencement homepage

The First Four Centuries of Printed Bible Illustration 

This exhibition includes 50 bibles from Bridwell Library’s Special Collections that span from the beginning of the printed page to the 19th century. The exhibit focuses on the historical context, artistic development and cultural impact of the illustrations found in these scriptures. The First Four Centuries of Printed Bible Illustration will be on view in the Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Galleries until Saturday, May 18.

Bachelor of Fine Arts Qualifying Exhibition 

The annual spring exhibition of graduating Division of Art seniors will be on display in the Pollock Gallery in Hughes-Trigg Student Center until Saturday, May 18, featuring a wide range of styles and media. Call 214-768-4439 for more information.

Linda Darnell: From Dallas to Hollywood

This retrospective of Oak Cliff native Darnell’s acting career features selections from the Jeff Gordon Collection. It has been held over through Friday, June 7 in the Hawn Gallery, Hamon Arts Library.

Impressions of Europe: 19th-Century Vistas by Martín Rico 

SMU’s Meadows Museum, in collaboration with the Prado Museum, presents the only American appearance of this exhibition spanning the career of renowned Spanish landscape painter Martín Rico y Ortega. The show has been held over through Sunday, July 7 in the Virginia Meadows Galleries. Admission is free for SMU faculty, staff and students with University ID.