Sophomore equestrian Lucy Needham finished 9th out of 88 riders in the Open Adult 18-22 class at the 33rd annual New England Equitation Championships Oct. 18, 2009. Needham and her horse Venlo received a score of 79.00. Read more.

The SMU Athletic Department and The 33 have announced an agreement to produce and broadcast the Mustang football game at Tulsa on Halloween 2009, Oct. 31. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. with broadcasting legends Brad Sham and Allen Stone calling the action. Read more.

First-year defender Ryan Rosenbaum has been named NSCAA National Player of the Week for his game-winning goal for the men's soccer team at No. 16 Tulsa Oct. 21, 2009. The 95-yard goal was the No. 2 play on ESPN's "SportsCenter" Oct. 22 and became an instant YouTube hit, as well as receiving coverage from national outlets including ABC Morning News, The Dallas Morning News, Yahoo!, Deadspin and The Big Lead. Rosenbaum has also been named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week for his achievement. Read more, and click on the YouTube screen below to see the replay.

Aleksandra Gawor (right), a sophomore majoring in business and anthropology and a member of the Student Technology Assistant in Residence (STARs) team, is the winner of SMU's Green Minute Video contest. The student contest was sponsored by the SMU Sustainability Committee to increase green awareness on campus.

In her 35-second spot, Gawor uses dry humor and driving music to deliver a common-sense message about recycling. Watch the winning video by clicking the YouTube screen below:

Revisit the debate with John E. Jones, the federal judge who in 2005 barred a Pennsylvania public school district from teaching "intelligent design"; Paula Apsell and Melanie Wallace, NOVA producers of the documentary; plaintiff's council Eric Rothschild; and Lauri Lebo, a Dover-area journalist and author of The Devil in Dover.

Click the YouTube screen to watch the panel discussion.

• Visit SMU's "Darwin's Evolving Legacy" homepage

In this video, Peter Davis, M.D. - co-medical director and staff physician of the SMU Health Center - answers common questions about flu, including whether or not to get a flu shot and what to do first when you suspect you're getting sick.

Click the YouTube screen to watch the video.

• Learn more at smu.edu/flu

Meanwhile, SMU students have been invited to enter their videos promoting sustainability to the Green-Minute Video Contest sponsored by the University's Campus Sustainability Committee. The videos should be G-rated and one minute or less in length and can be shot with any available equipment, including cell phones. First-, second- and third-place winners will receive prizes donated by Green Living Earth Friendly Goods For the Home, Fleetwood's Kit Kat Cruiser Bike Boutique, Whole Earth Provision Company and Green Spot Market & Fuels.

The deadline for contest submissions is noon Oct. 16, 2009. Winners will be announced on Campus Sustainability Day, Oct. 21.

Click the screen (right) to watch the 33 News video.

• Read more on the Green-Minute Video Contest
• Visit the Sustainability @ SMU website

"My mother believed with all her heart in the importance of learning and the power of knowledge," said daughter Kay Yeager, the former mayor of Wichita Falls. "She decided early in life to maintain a family tradition of enabling others to better themselves through higher education, a legacy both her children and grandchildren are continuing to honor."

The 20,000-square-foot Prothro Hall is the centerpiece of the revamped theology quad. An environmentally friendly building, the facility is eligible for LEED Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The building houses facilities for education and community uses - including a 2,200-square-foot great hall for public events, a refectory for dining services, a student computer lab, preaching lab, classrooms, seminar rooms and two lecture halls.

Click the YouTube screen to watch a time-lapse video of Prothro Hall's construction.

• Read more from SMU News

In April, Mark McPhail spoke about his experiences as an expert witness before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (UNICTR) in 2008. McPhail, chair of the Division of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs in SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, shared his personal reflections on the tragedy, its political and moral legacies, and the implications it holds for international justice and reconciliation in the 21st century. The lecture was presented by SMU's Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility. Click the YouTube screen to watch the video.

To help students better understand the genocide, SMU's Human Rights Education Program traveled to Rwanda during summer 2009, where the group visited such sites as the Nyarubuye Genocide Memorial and Urukundo Home for Children. Laura, one of the group, blogged for SMU Student Adventures about her experiences and impressions - including a visit to Murambi, the site of some of the worst massacres of the genocide.

• Read Laura's Rwanda blog
• Visit SMU Student Adventures
• Read more about the Rwanda Genocide

Colleges worldwide are investing millions in "smart" classrooms, but Meadows Dean José Bowen has challenged his colleagues to "teach naked" - by which he means, sans machines. Dean Bowen believes too many professors use PowerPoint as a crutch rather than a creative tool - and class time should be reserved for discussion, he contends, especially now that students can download lectures online and find libraries of information on the web.

Statistics back him up: A study published in the April 2009 British Educational Research Journal found that 59 percent of students in a new survey reported that at least half of their lectures were boring, and that PowerPoint was one of the dullest methods they saw. They gave low marks not just to the popular slide-display program, but to all kinds of computer-assisted classroom activities, even interactive exercises in computer labs.

"The least boring teaching methods were found to be seminars, practical sessions, and group discussions," said the report. In other words, tech-free classrooms were the most engaging.

Read more from The Chronicle of Higher Education, and watch Bowen's video on "teaching naked."

The SMU staff gathered on the Clements Hall south lawn May 21 for the University's 2009 Staff Appreciation Day and President's Picnic. Hundreds of community members ate burgers and hotdogs, played games, and watched the always lively competition for rights to the Tug-O-War trophy.

• See the 2009 President's Picnic slide show

Former President George W. Bush had lunch with President's and Hunt Scholars and addressed a class of journalism students during an April 29 visit to the SMU campus. "I was trying to impart some knowledge," Bush told SMU Daily Mustang reporter and student Shelly Smith as he came out of Journalism Lecturer Carolyn Barta's class, where he had spent more than an hour. Bush and Barta first met during his 1978 run for Congress, when she was a newspaper reporter. She invited him to talk to her class.

• Read more and see a slide show from SMU News

Most mainstream discussion of evolutionary theory versus belief in God assumes a fundamental conflict between the two views that does not exist, according to one philosopher. "It's appropriate that people get exercised about this, because it's an important question," says Elliott Sober, the Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The professor of philosophy talked about how belief in God and evolution are related in "Darwin and Intelligent Design" at SMU April 13.

Sober's 2008 book, Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science, has been called one of the most in-depth analyses of the relationship between statistical reasoning and evidence in evolutionary biology. He appeared as part of "Darwin's Evolving Legacy: Celebrating Ideas That Shape Our World," SMU's ongoing series of free, public lectures throughout 2009 celebrating Darwin's 200th birth date and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal book, On the Origin of Species.

Watch Sober's lecture courtesy of SMU News:

• Part 1
• Part 2

John McCaa of WFAA Channel 8 visited SMU recently to see student innovation in action. Senior mechanical engineering majors in the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering's 2008-09 Senior Design Course unveiled their final projects April 20.

The program, founded in 1978, has focused on creating assistive technology for the disabled since 1996. Students met with clients to learn about their needs, then set to work developing a "third arm" for wheelchair users and a hand-powered cycle with a specially designed suspension and propulsion system.

"At the Lyle School of Engineering, we like to say we solve people's problems. And this is evidence of that," said senior Daniel Klick, student manager of this year's design project.

• See the WFAA video at SMU News

Ten students in SMU's Model United Nations program participated in the World Model U.N. 2009 Conference in March in The Hague, Netherlands. The SMU delegation was assigned to represent the Vatican at the conference, where students from more than 40 countries debated and discussed world issues facing the U.N. system. Read more about it at the SMU team's Model U.N. group blog.

• See a slideshow of the team's trip to the Netherlands

Junior journalism major and human rights minor Mackenzie Warren traveled to Buenos Aires with her SMU human rights class in August 2008. Her video journal of the experience features stories of Argentina's 30,000 "disappeared" in her interviews with victims of human rights abuses and their families. She also speaks with Holocaust survivors in the nation's Jewish community, the 5th largest in the world, and with a group of activists who seek to save the country's rivers from refinery waste and other pollutants.

Watch Mackenzie's video journal at SMU News.

SMU students aren't just wishing for a better world: They're creating one. Meet Andres, Allison, Warren, Jamie, Rob and Charanya - and learn what makes them leaders, advocates and adventurers - at The Face of SMU.

A fountain provided by a gift from Valeria Late of Dallas was dedicated March 5, 2009 on the SMU campus. The Val and Frank Late Fountain, located in front of Dedman Life Sciences Building, bears the name of the donor and her late husband. Constructed of granite, the 42-by-64-foot oval fountain has a wide rim for seating and additional benches placed around it.

"The Val and Frank Late Fountain will provide a gathering place for students and a beautiful arrival point on SMU's east campus," said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. "The beauty of the SMU campus is one of its greatest attractions to prospective students. We are grateful to Val Late for enhancing the beauty of the rapidly developing east campus."

• Read more from SMU News
• See a slide show of the dedication
• Watch a video of the fountain in action

George W. Bush made a surprise visit to SMU Feb. 24, 2009. The former president answered questions in Harold Stanley's political science class, talked with students around campus and dropped in on the Crum Basketball Center. Watch a video compiled by Anna Martinez of SMU News.

Christina Paulson (left), a biology graduate student in SMU's Dedman College, talked about the impact of Darwin's Theory of Evolution on her life and work as part of the University's celebration of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday Feb. 12, 2009. Paulson told of her own, humorous introduction to Darwin in 5th grade ("As a 10-year-old, the message I took home ... was not to put beetles in my mouth"). She also talked about how "the desperate passion and curiosity that Darwin felt for science" has affected her own research, in which she studies a species of small worm to explore ways to treat illnesses and diseases in humans.

• Find a transcript and SMU News video at the Darwin's Evolving Legacy website

SMU community members who have questions regarding the recent suspension of the Beta Lambda Chapter of Kappa Alpha Order at SMU can see an interview with Vice President for Student Affairs Lori White, conducted by Anna Martinez of SMU News.

Watch the interview in two parts:
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Visit SMU's Live Responsibly homepage

On Jan. 26, 2009, nationally renowned evolutionary psychologist David Buss spoke at SMU on how the very different ways men and women pursue each other stem from thousands of years of human evolution. Buss came to the University as part of "Darwin's Evolving Legacy: Celebrating Ideas That Shape Our World," SMU's year-long celebration of Charles Darwin's bicentennial. See SMU News video of Buss' lecture in two parts:

• David Buss: Strategies of Human Mating, Part 1
• David Buss: Strategies of Human Mating, Part 2

On Jan. 12, 2009, more than 65 foreign diplomats visited SMU as part of the U.S. Department of State's "Experience America" program, designed to give the overseas envoys an opportunity to learn more about the nation beyond the Beltway. Among the day's highlights was a tour of Meadows Museum and its renowned permanent collection of Spanish art. Watch a video of the State Department visit courtesy of SMU News.

(Left, Meadows Museum Director Mark Roglán - at right in the photo - leads a museum tour for foreign diplomats. Photo by Jake Dean.)

Krys Boyd of KERA 90.1 FM will explore the healing power of music on "Think" 1-2 p.m. Jan. 22 with guest Barbara Bastable, adjunct assistant professor of music therapy in SMU's Meadows School of the Arts. Listen live online.

The SMU Student Foundation's 2008 Celebration of Lights continues to make the holidays bright through photos and video. Relive the magic, courtesy of SMU News:

• See a slide show
• Watch a video

SMU broke ground Dec. 5, 2008 for the building that will house the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development. Relive the celebration for Annette Caldwell Simmons Hall in a video from SMU News.

SMU will be in the news throughout the evening on Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. Tune in to watch:

• Seyom Brown, John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security in SMU's Dedman College, will discuss where America's foreign policy is headed and what to expect from the Obama Administration's national security team on "Think," beginning at 7:30 p.m. on KERA Channel 13.

• Next, television reporter John McCaa visits SMU's Meadows Museum of Art as a creative way to de-stress. The visit is part of a special presentation, "Stress Less...A Family First Special," 8-9 p.m. on WFAA Channel 8.

Lou Jacobs, well known on the Hilltop for his fossil research in Dedman College's Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, is a scientific consultant on a new 33-minute video released by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Jacobs delivers a welcome message in the video, "We Are SVP," which is introduced and narrated by "Law & Order" television star Sam Waterston.

The production is designed to educate students, teachers and the public about vertebrate paleontologists and the importance of their work. "Because we study fossils, especially dinosaurs, we capture the imagination of children, and that makes vertebrate paleontology a gateway for all science," Jacobs says in the video. Also appearing is SMU geology student and President's Scholar Karen Gutierrez.

Watch the video at the SVP website.

Three generations of one SMU family stay connected through traditions like Rotunda Passage and Homecoming. Watch the video from SMU News.

• Homecoming 2008 in photos and video

On Election Day, SMU students, faculty and staff cast their ballots and attended watching parties on campus and across North Texas. Other students chronicled the events online, in print and on film. Check out their efforts at:

• The Daily Campus
• The Daily Mustang

Meanwhile, faculty and staff members can keep up with SMU faculty members' analysis and insight on the election in SMU Forum's Faculty in the News section. (Above, journalism students at work in the new Daily Mustang convergence newsroom on Election Day 2008. Photo by journalism student Sommer Saadi.)

SMU's Lyle School of Engineering will open a laboratory modeled after a Lockheed Martin research center that ranks among the most innovative in the world. The University's Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® Lab will open in December 2009 and will emulate the "flat management" style forged by Lockheed's original Skunk Works® plant in Palmdale, California. Faculty members will work with students as team members rather than bosses, says Engineering Dean Geoffrey Orsak (right). The school's partnership with Lockheed is part of a plan to educate more qualified engineers to fill current and anticipated shortages.

• Read coverage from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• Dean Orsak discusses the Lyle School of Engineering's new initiatives
• Remarks by Maj. Gen. Al Joersz (Ret.) of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program
• Learn more about the Skunk Works®

SMU's new Center for Family Counseling celebrated its opening in a ceremony at its SMU-in-Legacy facilities Oct. 7, 2008, with Plano Mayor Pat Evans in attendance. The Center will serve Collin County residents of all income levels by providing individual and group counseling services, as well as bilingual counseling services to Spanish-speaking clients. Read more about the Center, and watch the grand opening video from SMU News.

SMU celebrated the naming of the Lyle School of Engineering Oct. 17, 2008 with speeches, confetti...and a high-tech light show set to the music of Blue Man Group. Watch the video from SMU News.

During 1936, in a state deep within the waves of the Great Depression, Texas held a statewide celebration that marked 100 years of Texas independence. The celebration culminated in the $25 million Central Exposition in Dallas.

Lucille Robinson's Texas Centennial scrapbook gives a poignant glimpse into the lives of two young friends enthralled with the celebration. The letters carefully pasted into the scrapbook reveal a close friendship between Robinson and Lavonia Rorie, a student at SMU, that began with a mutual love of the Globe Theatre at the Texas Centennial.

The scrapbook is one of many in the Mary McCord/Edyth Renshaw Collection on the Performing Arts, housed in SMU's Bywaters Special Collections. (Right, a Texas Centennial greeting card sent by Lavonia Rorie, from Lucille Robinson's scrapbook.)

• Read more from SMU News

In 2006, sophomore Stephen Klimczak (right) started a humorous Facebook group to commemorate the demotion of Pluto, the 9th planet from the Sun, to "dwarf planet" status. He thought he might find about 200 other people who shared his quirky wit. Now with nearly 1.5 million members, "When I Was Your Age, Pluto Was a Planet" has become "almost ... an unofficial petition to get [Pluto] back to planet status," he says. Read more.

SMU History Professor Glenn Linden discussed the life and legacy of legendary U.S. District Judge Harold Barefoot Sanders Jr. (left) on KERA Radio program "Think" Sept. 25, 2008. Sanders passed away Sept. 21. Linden is the author of "Desegregating Schools in Dallas: Four Decades in the Federal Courts." Listen to the podcast online.

• Learn about Judge Sanders' DISD desegregation papers at SMU's Underwood Law Library

A large team from SMU's Physics Department is among the thousands of international participants collaborating on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Take a look at their work in a video hosted by Fred Olness (right), physics professor in SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

Robin Lovin, Maguire Professor of Ethics; Matthew Wilson, Political Science; and William Lawrence, Theology Dean, are featured panelists in Texas Faith, a new blog hosted by The Dallas Morning News. The weekly feature is an ongoing discussion of religion, politics and culture that draws upon the expertise of clergy, laity and academics in Texas. Visit the blog and subscribe to its newsfeed.

On Sept. 12, 2008, SMU launched the largest fund-raising campaign in its history. Watch the kickoff of SMU Unbridled: The Second Century Campaign in Flash video.

• Visit the Second Century Campaign website

The international science community cheered as CERN successfully launched the first beam at the Large Hadron Collider Sept. 10.

A large team from the Department of Physics in SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences is involved in the project, including last spring's installation of the 7,000-ton ATLAS Experiment - a subatomic particle detector they helped build for the LHC.

Keep up with the project at SMU News. (Right, SMU graduate student in physics Rozmin Daya, who was on duty in the ATLAS control room during First Beam.)

Luis Alberto Urrea - author of SMU's 2008 Common Reading experience, The Devil's Highway - will be a guest on KERA Radio's "Think" Sept. 8. Joining him will be SMU History Professor Ben Johnson, author of the new book Bordertown: The Odyssey of an American Place. The broadcast begins at noon. Listen live from the KERA website.

The SMU Physical Plant is testing the performance of the "Green Machine," which can generate electricity from waste heat. Geothermal Lab Coordinator Maria Richards discusses the Machine's usefulness as a teaching tool in this CW 33 video from July 25, 2008.

Engineering Dean Geoffrey Orsak is a new regular columnist for the engineering publication Design News. Read two of his recent essays at the SMU News website:

• "Let's Not Forget the Dollar Per Day Economy," June 2008
• "Our Big Asterisks*," August 2008

Ben Manthey, a junior from Dallas majoring in history with minors in Chinese and business, has spent Spring 2008 in Beijing at the Capital University of Economics and Business. He shares his perspective on life and learning in the People's Republic - including the deadly Sichuan earthquake that has devastated the nation - at his Student Adventures blog. (Right, Ben's photo of night life in Central Beijing's Houhai district.)

The SMU Athletic Department, in conjunction with the SMU Lettermen's Association, inducted the 2008 inaugural class of the SMU Athletics Hall of Fame during ceremonies May 2. Forrest Gregg, Lamar Hunt, Martina Moravcova and Payne Stewart were honored, with Don Meredith serving as honorary chair. See Athletics Hall of Fame video online.

Ruth P. Morgan, political science professor emerita and former SMU provost, will appear on "Sharing the Power: A Voter's Voice Special" to air on KERA TV (Channel 13) at 8 p.m. May 28 and on KERA Public Radio 90.1 at 6 p.m. May 29.

The program, hosted by Sam Baker, will examine the filing of the lawsuit in Dallas that led to single-member district government and how this concept is becoming increasingly important in the North Texas area.

Morgan also will be interviewed by Baker on the KERA Morning Edition news casts through May 29.

Listen to the radio broadcast via streaming audio at the KERA website.

SMU will play a featured role in the 4th season of the FOX Network's "So You Think You Can Dance." Several SMU students auditioned for the program during a segment shot in McFarlin Auditorium. The next episode airs at 7 p.m. Central time May 26.

See photos and video at FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance" website. (Right, dancers warm up in a McFarlin hallway as they wait to audition.)

Volkan Otugen, Mechanical Engineering Chair, talked about the effects of North Texas' high winds on gas mileage with Ken Kalthoff of NBC 5 News. See the video broadcast May 1, 2008.

Her Favorite year: In April, Gwen Beauchamp (center right), an information support specialist in the Cox School of Business, won $5,000 for her Toffee-Banana Brownies recipe in the Pillsbury Bake-Off's "America's Favorite Recipe" competition. Now, as nominated by her children, she's been chosen as one of three semi-finalists in the "Chairman of Everything Mom" category of "America's Favorite Mom," presented by Teleflora. The semi-finalists were selected from over 20,000 nominations by a panel of parenting experts, and one each from five categories will be chosen by online voting to appear in a Mother's Day special hosted by Donny and Marie Osmond.

Watch Gwen on "The Today Show" during the 9 a.m. hour on Friday, May 9 - then vote for her at the America's Favorite Mom website. Meanwhile, watch Gwen's nomination video at the NBC Television website.

Van Kemper, Anthropology, was interviewed and served as a principal consultant for a 5-part radio documentary, "A Village Away From Home: Seattle's Purepecha Community," produced by KUOW 94.9 FM in Seattle. Listen online.

First Lady and SMU trustee Laura Bush ('68, right, with Meadows Dean José Bowen) received the 2008 Robert S. Folsom Leadership Award for community service, presented annually by the Methodist Health System Foundation. Meadows students provided entertainment at the April ceremonies. See a slide show.

The Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, presented SMU's 14th annual Robert O. Cooper Peace and Justice Fellowship Lecture on April 20, outlining the history and future of the civil rights movement and its importance to America. See the event in streaming video.

Natalie Kashefi and Sara Gingrich, both SMU undergraduates majoring in biology, spent a day introducing third graders at Dallas' Lipscomb Elementary School to the life cycle of sea urchins as part of their school science class. Accompanying them was SMU Provost Paul Ludden, who has facilitated such volunteer efforts at local schools for 18 years, since his own daughter was in third grade. See a slide show from SMU News.

Brian Frehner, a former Fellow in SMU's Clements Center for Southwest Studies, will interview with Krys Boyd on her popular talk show, "Think," 1-2 p.m. today (April 9 ). Listen live online at KERA-FM 90.1.

Frehner, assistant professor of history at Oklahoma State University, is co-organizer of the 2008 Clements Center Symposium, "Indians and Energy: Exploitation and Opportunity in the American Southwest," which takes place April 12. He will discuss the upcoming symposium and its mission to tell the complicated and ongoing story of Native Americans and energy development in the Southwest. The symposium will offer a variety of perspectives from senior and junior historians and Native American activists, with implications that loom large for the future of energy tribes and the nation as a whole.

Find more symposium information and register online at the Clements Center website.

The Honorable Roy Huffington endowed SMU's Department of Earth Sciences with a $10 million gift March 27, 2008. Watch a streaming video of the announcement from the SMU Video Library.

SMU theatre major Bryan Lewis (right) has snagged the grand prize in Paramount Pictures' "Into the Wild" competition with a short film that follows him on a weekend escape into the wilderness. Read more from SMU News and watch his winning video online.

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard spoke at the Tower Center Forum March 12. The event was held in the Harlan Crow Library at the home of Kathy and Harlan Crow. Mr. Howard also visited the SMU campus the following day for meetings with SMU President R. Gerald Turner and the faculty of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies. See a slide show.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited SMU March 5-6 to receive the Medal of Freedom - and took time to speak with local high school students in the 2008 Hart Global Leaders Forum (right). Read more and see a slide show about Blair's visit.

SMU students answered the call to do something rewarding with their spring break - and they blogged their experiences, too. Find these stories at SMU's popular Student Adventures site:

• Human rights pilgrimage in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany
• Habitat for Humanity project in Taos

Fourteen talented Meadows singing actors performed selections from the Broadway stage March 7 in the Owen Arts Center. The showcase was the culmination of a two-week workshop with acclaimed Broadway conductor Kimberly Grigsby ('91), music director for Spring Awakening, the 2007 Tony Award winner for Best Musical. As an additional bonus for Meadows students, Grigsby brought her Broadway colleague Adam Guettel, the Tony-winning composer and lyricist of The Light in the Piazza, to help provide finishing touches to the performance. See a slide show.

Eleanor Clift (left), contributing editor for Newsweek and co-author of Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling, was the keynote speaker at SMU's 43rd annual Women's Symposium Feb. 28, 2008. Watch streaming video from the Symposium at the SMU Video Library.

Take another look at the Bush Presidential Library signing ceremony with video and a slide show assembled by SMU News. (Right, George W. Bush Foundation Chair Donald Evans and SMU President R. Gerald Turner; photo by Hillsman S. Jackson.)

• Watch the video.
• See the slideshow.

The SMU Economics Club hosted Elizabeth Wheaton, Economics, and Al Armendariz, Environmental Engineering, for a discussion of North Texas air quality issues. Listen to their podcast: "Hazed and Confused: Making Sense of Our Air Quality Problems," at SMU's iTunesU site. Launch iTunes U from SMU's portal page and click to the Dedman College > Economics Club - Events section. You will need to install iTunes if you don't have it already - it's fast and free at apple.com/itunes.

Watch student-created videos like this one - featuring a scene from Puccini's La Bohème - from the Meadows Opera Gala Feb. 8 at YouTube. Then, read about the production from a student's perspective at Student Adventures.

Cal Jillson, Political Science, talked about the Mar. 4 Texas primary for 2008 - and what it will take to win - in KERA Public Radio's Voters' Voice Special, "Texas and the Presidential Election." Listen online to the Feb. 6 broadcast.

KERA also came to campus Feb. 12 to discuss the election with SMU students. Read more and listen online.

Podcast of the Week: SMU's Spring 2008 Career Fair is Feb. 13. Meanwhile, students can listen up for expert advice with the Hegi Family Career Development Center's podcast at SMU's iTunes U site. Launch iTunes U from SMU's portal page and click to the Campus Life > Student Activities section. You will need to install iTunes if you don't have it already - it's fast and free at apple.com/itunes.

Religious Studies Chair Mark Chancey (left) was the featured speaker for Temple Emanu-El's annual adult education course, this year titled "The New Testament: First Century Jews, First Century Christians." Now, Temple Emanu-El has graciously provided audio files of Chancey's lectures for online listening and downloading. Click here for more.

Men's Basketball Coach Matt Doherty will appear in the opening-week broadcast of ABC's "Road to March Madness," which airs at 2 p.m. CT Feb. 2. Doherty will appear in the network's New York studio with Bonnie Bernstein and Tom Brennan. Part of the feature was also shot on campus inside Moody Coliseum and during practice at the new Crum Basketball Center. The show will air each Saturday before ABC's coverage of NCAA basketball. Read more.

Fox Broadcasting's "So You Think You Can Dance" held its first round of auditions in SMU's McFarlin Auditorium Jan. 17-19, 2008. More than 400 contestants lined up at 5 a.m. for their chance to strut their stuff in front of Judges Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Adam Shankman, and show host Cat Deeley. You'll have to wait until later this spring to see who made the cut for the show's fourth season, but in the meantime check out this slideshow.

As SMU celebrates 2008 MLK Week, SMU News has made available online, for the first time ever, the speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made in McFarlin Auditorium. Gene Halaburt of Dallas, who was near the front of a standing-room-only crowd of students and faculty members, taped the Mar. 17, 1966 speech with a hand-held recorder and has graciously provided a copy to the University. (There is a brief gap in the recording at about 40 minutes, possibly caused when the cassette was turned over.) Listen here.

Student journalists from SMU covered the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as part of a partnership with Fox TV to report on the race for the White House. The team covered the process from the perspective of college students in tandem with KDFW/Fox 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth. Visit links to their blog posts and video news clips. (Left, Mark Norris [black coat] and Ann Wyatt Little [red coat] interview a candidate supporter.)

Legendary producer and SMU alumnus Bob Banner talked about his adventures working with Perry Como, Dinah Shore and Carol Burnett during the Golden Age of Television at SMU Dec. 5, 2007. Watch the two-part video online.

About 705 graduates received their degrees in SMU's December graduation ceremony Dec. 15, 2007. Watch the highlights in Flash video.

SMU remembers Martin Luther King Jr. during 2008 MLK Week Jan. 21-26 (see Calendar Highlights for details). And now, for the first time ever, the speech Dr. King made in SMU's McFarlin Auditorium is available online. Gene Halaburt of Dallas taped the Mar. 17, 1966 speech with a hand-held recorder and has graciously provided a copy to SMU. (There is a brief gap in the recording at about 40 minutes, possibly caused when the cassette was turned over.) Listen here.

Take another look at SMU's 30th annual Celebration of Lights - and take it with you on your video iPod:

• See a slide show
• Watch a video
• Download a video to your iPod

SMU's 30th annual Celebration of Lights took place Dec. 2, 2007, on the University's Main Quad. It featured more than 100,000 decorative lights and luminarias, caroling and a reading of the Christmas story from the New Testament by SMU President R. Gerald Turner.

• See a slide show
• Watch a video
• Download a video to your iPod

International and civic leaders, a former athlete turned dentist and an emerging theatre star received the University's Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA) during formal ceremonies on Nov. 8, 2007. See the ceremony as it was rebroadcast on SMU-TV Channel 19 in the Park Cities.

Three important new Meadows Museum exhibitions opened Nov. 30, 2007. "Coming of Age: American Art, 1850s to 1950s" runs through Feb. 24, 2008; "Jerry Bywaters, Interpreter of the Southwest" and "Lone Star Printmaker" run through Mar. 2, 2008.

• Hear an interview with co-curators Sam Ratcliffe and Ellen Buie Niewyk by Laurel Ornish of ClassicalTexas.com, with remarks by Meadows Museum Director Mark Roglán
• See a gallery of some of the paintings on exhibit

The Guildhall at SMU is part of an interactive exhibit on the history of video games being hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Economic Adventure Gallery. "Video Games Evolve: A Brief History from Spacewar! to MMORPGs" examines the video-game industry's roots, which are firmly planted in New England. Watch Guildhall Art Creation Instructor Chris Adams (right) explain motion capture in this video.

Rita Kirk, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, discussed the points the Dallas Cowboys score when they make a difference in their community with WFAA-TV (ABC Channel 8) Nov. 25, 2007. Watch the news video.

Junior President's Scholar Timothy Roy has made a big impression at one of Dallas' biggest institutions. For Neiman Marcus' 100th anniversary, the music composition major wrote three different pieces that were played in the flagship store in downtown Dallas in October and November. Read more and listen to Roy's compositions.

Podcast of the Week: Get the scoop on campus events with the Friday Update from Student Life. The Office of Student Life's Michael Hogan hosts the weekly rundown at SMU's iTunes U site. Launch iTunes U from SMU's portal page and click to the Campus Life section. You will need to install iTunes if you don't have it already - it's fast and free at apple.com/itunes.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport gives away about $125,000 a year in free parking - much of it to politicians and their spouses who aren't always doing the people's business. Robin Lovin (left), SMU's Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics, discussed the ethical dimensions of using and extending such privileges with WFAA-TV (ABC Channel 8).

Podcast of the week: The SMU Student Filmmakers Association shows its work with the Student Short Films vodcast (video podcast) at iTunes U. To find all SMU's iTunes U presentations, visit smu.edu/itunes and click "Take me to SMU on iTunes U." You will need to install iTunes if you don't have it already - it's fast and free at apple.com/itunes.

Kim Edwards - author of the biggest-selling book of 2006, The Memory Keeper's Daughter - visited SMU Oct. 25 to talk about life as a best-selling author and the re-release of her 1997 short story collection, The Secrets of a Fire King. See the video at SMU News.

Dedman Law Dean John Attanasio discussed privacy issues involved when attorneys market their services to recipients of traffic citations through public information requests. The segment aired on NBC Nightly News.

Robert Krout (right), Music Therapy, demonstrated the phenomenon of "ringxiety" - the sensation that you hear or feel your cell phone ringing when it's not - for KXAS-TV (NBC Channel 5).

Jessica DuBois, Hegi Family Career Development Center, talked about the impact Facebook entries can have on future employment in a news segment produced by WFAA-TV (ABC Channel 8).

To succeed in today's workplace, employees must have very clear ideas about their own strengths and weaknesses, said pioneering researcher and best-selling author Marcus Buckingham during the Turner Construction Student Forum Oct. 16. Unfortunately, he continued, "Most of us are just rubbish at it. The most popular answer in job interviews to the question 'What are your strengths?' is 'I like working with people,' or 'I'm a people person' - with no mention of which people or what you're doing with these people." Read the Q&A and watch the video.

Award-winning Teach For America founder and CEO Wendy Kopp (left) gave SMU's 10th annual Louise B. Raggio Lecture in Women's Studies Oct. 4. Listen to a podcast from the event.

Award-winning journalist Frank Sesno gave SMU's 8th annual Rosine Smith Sammons Lecture in Media Ethics Oct. 10. Hear his Oct. 8 interview on KERA 90.1 FM's Think! program.

Journalists Jim Lehrer, George Stephanopoulos and David Gergen (left) discussed the long campaign and hard choices involved in Election 2008 at the Turner Construction Student Forum Sept. 18. The complete Forum is now available as online video at SMU News.

SMU political scientist Dennis Simon discussed the presidential candidacy of Texas Congressman Ron Paul with FOX News' Brit Hume on Sept. 11, 2007. Watch the video at the SMU News site.

SMU's Perkins School of Theology launched a major expansion of its facilities with a groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 7. Watch the video from SMU News.

The next election is still more than a year away, but the permanent campaign already is in full swing. Keep up with the issues (and non-issues) with University experts at SMU's Election 2008 Web site.

SMU Magazine is now online! Read and comment on the Spring/Summer 2007 issue at smu.edu/smumagazine.

SMU hosts the U.S. premiere of the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit Truth in Translation for four performances Sept. 6-8 in the Bob Hope Theatre. Learn more in our Calendar Highlights section, and check out a video preview.

Cal Jillson, Political Science, discusses the controversial tenure of outgoing U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales with USA Today and on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight."

Jim Hollifield (left), director of the Tower Center for Political Studies, joined former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich in a discussion of ideology and politics on KERA Channel 13's "McCuistion."

Patricia Mathes, director of SMU's Institute for Reading Research, is featured in the PBS series "Reading Rockets" in an episode to air on Dallas' KERA Channel 13 at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 2. Mathes appears in the "Untapped Potential" segment discussing the progress children are making in several Fort Worth Independent School District elementary schools using an SMU-developed curriculum. Read more.

Katherine Browne (center), who received her SMU English degree in 1976 and a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1993, tells the story of a large St. Bernard Parish family fractured by Hurricane Katrina in "Still Waiting: Life After Katrina." The documentary will air on KERA Channel 13 Aug. 28, the eve of the second anniversary of the killer storm's landfall. Read more from SMU News, and visit the film's official Web site.