First-year student Melissa Perette tutors neighborhood children at the Academic-Community-Engagement (ACE) House in East Dallas.
Students Lead Their Way
One morning last February, the former leader of the free world spoke to future leaders in an SMU political science class – not your typical collegiate experience.
A relaxed George W. Bush discussed his presidency and the planned library and institute at SMU for about 10 minutes in the American Political System class taught by Harold Stanley, the Geurin-Pettus Professor of American politics and political economy in Dedman College. For the next 40 minutes, Bush took questions from 29 awestruck students.
“SMU offers so many interesting opportunities – like having George Bush drop by your class,” says sophomore Max Camp, a double major in pre-business and pre-political science and a student in the class.
A member of Christian social fraternity Beta Upsilon
Chi and College Republicans, Camp chose SMU for its academic qualities, and “leadership is definitely a part of that. Whether it’s taking on an office in the groups I now belong to or possibly in other organizations, I feel I have so many opportunities to grow as a leader here; it’s up to me to take advantage of them.”
Like Camp, the majority of SMU students place a high value on campus experiences that prepare them for life’s challenges and responsibilities. The University participates in a large national survey by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute called the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey. According to 2007 CIRP data, more than 50 percent of SMU’s incoming students believe that becoming a community leader is “essential” or “very important.” Almost
85 percent indicated that developing leadership ability in the coming year was either “essential” or “very important.”
For many students, their first lessons in leadership come through membership in a campus organization. Student Activities and Multicultural Student Affairs (SAMSA) supports 171 student clubs and groups, including Student Senate, student representatives to the Board of Trustees, Program Council and Student Foundation.
Student groups are integral to the planning and execution
of big universitywide celebrations like Homecoming, Family Weekend and Celebration of Lights, notes Lori White, vice president for student affairs. “We believe strongly in the shared student governance of our institution,” she says. “Involving student leaders in the business of the University is a very important value to SMU.”
Exploring The Possibilities … <a href="https://blog.smu.edu/smumagazine/2009/05<.bClick here to read more.
SMU Alumni Take The Lead … Elena Holy ’90 and Rob Johnson ’96 share how their SMU leadership experiences shaped their future careers.