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News

Cross Country Captures First AAC Title

CrossCountryThe SMU cross country team placed first and captured the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday, Nov. 2 in Madison, Connecticut.
The championship was the fifth in the past six years (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013) and third straight for the Mustangs. The previous four conference titles came in Conference USA.
Six Mustang runners earned all-conference honors and finished as the team with 29 points, beating second-place Louisville by 32 points. Rounding out the top five was UConn, UCF and Rutgers.
Head Coach Cathy Casey earned Coach of the Year honors, garnering her fifth accolade since her arrival on the Hilltop.

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News

SMU Physicists Contribute To Nobel Prize-winning Discovery

SMU’s experimental physics group played a pivotal role in discovering the Higgs boson – the particle that proves the theory for which two scientists received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.

SMU physicist Ryszard Stroynowski (right) explains an aspect of the ATLAS Experiment to James Quick, associate vice president for research at SMU and dean of graduate studies.
SMU physicist Ryszard Stroynowski (right) explains an aspect of the ATLAS Experiment to James Quick, associate vice president for research at SMU and dean of graduate studies.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize to theorists Peter W. Higgs of Scotland and François Englert of Belgium to recognize their work developing the theory of what is now known as the Higgs field, which gives elementary particles mass.
The Nobel citation recognizes Higgs and Englert “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.”
In the 1960s, Higgs and Englert, with other theorists, published papers introducing key concepts of the theory of the Higgs field. In 2012, scientists on the international ATLAS and CMS experiments, performed at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Europe, confirmed this theory when they announced the discovery of the Higgs boson.
“A scientist may test out a thousand different ideas over the course of a career. If you’re fortunate, you get to experiment with one that works,” says SMU physicist Ryszard Stroynowski, a principal investigator in the search for the Higgs boson. As the leader of an SMU Department of Physics team working on the experiment, Stroynowski served as U.S. coordinator for the ATLAS Experiment’s Liquid Argon Calorimeter, which measures energy from the particles created by proton collisions.
The University’s experimental physics group has been involved since 1994 and is a major contributor to the research, the heart of which is the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator on the border with Switzerland and France.
SMU joins nearly 2,000 physicists from U.S. institutions – including 89 universities and seven Department of Energy laboratories – that participate in the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The majority of U.S. scientists participating in LHC experiments work primarily from their home institutions, remotely accessing and analyzing data through high-capacity networks and grid computing.
The SMU High Performance Computing system is part of that grid and routinely runs data that contributed to the observation, Stroynowski says. “Much of the success of our small group in the highly competitive environment of a large international collaboration has been due to an easy access and superb productivity of the SMU High Performance Computing system,” he adds. “We used the HPC for fast data analyses and complex calculations needed for the discovery.”
The High Performance Computing Center will be expanded and relocated later this year to the new University Data Center under construction at the southern edge of the main campus.
SMU’s role in the Higgs discovery contributes to the University’s drive to expand research and enhance education, says James Quick, associate vice president for research at SMU and dean of graduate studies.
The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN was the culmination of decades of work by physicists and engineers around the world. Contributors from SMU have made their mark on the project at various stages, including current Department of Physics faculty members Ryszard Stroynowski, Jingbo Ye, Robert Kehoe and Stephen Sekula. Faculty members Pavel Nadolsky and Fred Olness performed theoretical calculations used in various aspects of data analysis.
University postdoctoral fellows on the ATLAS Experiment have included Julia Hoffmann, David Joffe, Ana Firan, Haleh Hadavand, Peter Renkel, Aidan Randle-Conde and Daniel Goldin.
Significant contributions to ATLAS also have been made by SMU faculty members in the Department of Physics’ Optoelectronics Lab, including Tiankuan Liu, Annie Xiang and Datao Gong.
“The discovery of the Higgs is a great achievement, confirming an idea that will require rewriting of the textbooks,” Stroynowski says. “But there is much more to be learned from the LHC and from ATLAS data in the next few years. We look forward to continuing this work.”

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News

Study Finds Fruit Flies Fed Organic Diets Are Healthier

A high school student from Plano, Texas, under the guidance of SMU biologist Johannes H. Bauer, recently participated in a new study looking at the potential health benefits of organic versus non-organic food. Specifically, research conducted by Ria Chhabra and Bauer found that fruit flies fed an organic diet recorded better health outcomes than flies fed a non-organic diet.

Ria Chhabra discusses her research with biologist Johannes Bauer in his lab.
Ria Chhabra discusses her research with biologist Johannes Bauer in his lab.

“While these findings are certainly intriguing, we now need to determine why the flies on the organic diets did better, especially since not all the organic diets we tested provided the same positive health outcomes,” says Bauer, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in Dedman College and principal investigator for the study.
To investigate whether organic foods are healthier for consumers, the lab utilized one of the most widely used model systems, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Because of the low costs associated with fly research and the fly’s short life cycle, researchers use fruit flies to study human diseases – from diabetes to heart function to Alzheimer’s disease.
Fruit flies on organic diets showed improvements on the most significant measures of health, namely fertility and longevity. “We don’t know why the flies on the organic diet did better,” says Chhabra, who led the experiment. “That will require further research. But this is a start toward understanding potential health benefits.”
Chhabra sought to conduct the experiments after hearing her parents discuss whether it’s worth it to buy more expensive organic foods to achieve possible health benefits.
Bauer mentored Chhabra by helping guide and design her research experiments. The research focus of Bauer’s fruit fly lab is nutrition and its relationship to longevity, health and diabetes.
The Bauer lab fruit flies were fed organic and nonorganic produce purchased from a leading national grocery retailer. The flies were fed extracts made from organic and conventional potatoes, soybeans, raisins and bananas. They were not fed any additional nutritional supplements. The researchers tested the effects of each food type independently and avoided any confounding effects of a mixed diet.
The findings have been published in the open access journal PLOS One. Bauer and Chhabra co-authored the paper with Santharam Kolli, a research associate at SMU.
The Bauer lab results come at a time when the health effects of organic food are widely debated. Previous studies have yielded conflicting results as reflected in the scientific literature. While several studies have shown elevated nutrient content and lower pesticide contamination levels in organic food, a recent publication reporting a large-scale analysis of all available studies concluded no clear trend was apparent.
Baur urges caution, however, in jumping to conclusions about their study results. “We need to understand what causes these health differences first before attempting to extrapolate the results to humans.”
– Margaret Allen

 
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News

Answering The Billion-Dollar Question

R. Gerald Turner President
R. Gerald Turner
President

As you read in this magazine about our new campaign goal of $1 billion, you may well ask, “Why”? Since we exceeded our original goal of $750 million in summer 2013, ahead of our 2015 target date, why not stop now, thank our donors for their generosity and celebrate the achievement?
One answer, of course, is that success can breed further success. Our new goal derives from the tremendous speed, breadth and level of giving we have enjoyed to date. Our donors are responding enthusiastically to The Second Century Campaign, fueling our unprecedented momentum. In this atmosphere of “can do” for SMU, we know that there are potential new donors who will answer the call to give, as well as longtime donors who will continue their support.
Donors are embracing our goals to complete funding for important projects improving our libraries, health center, and academic and athletics facilities. They want us to hire and retain the best faculty and explore new opportunities, such as establishing centers of expertise in areas ranging from cyber security to economic freedom. And they support our continuing commitment to provide scholarships, so that all students worthy of an SMU education can indeed afford
to study here. For those students and the faculty who inspire them, we can and must do more. You’ll read more about our new and continuing goals in this SMU Magazine.
And the time is right. Our centennial era, 2011-2015, gives us the opportunity to reaffirm boldly and publicly our founding vision and carry it forward. Our donors have become the next generation of University builders for our second century of achievement.
A pragmatic question is, “If not now, when?” With a billion-dollar goal, SMU is among 34 private universities that have sought or are seeking that amount or more. If we chose not to join this distinguished group, we would be failing to fulfill the potential that presents itself to us now. And it would take another 10 years of planning and cultivating to reach a similar intersection of opportunity. Our founders had a bold vision when they established SMU, and we are committed to continuing that tradition.
We’re moving on with our fundraising so that SMU can continue moving forward. Thanks to all who have brought us to this new milestone, and to those who will join in the days and months ahead.
R. Gerald Turner
President

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News

Five Mustangs Earn All-Conference Honors In Volleyball

SOPHOMORE AVERY ACKER ALSO GARNERS ALL-AMERICAN AND ALL-REGION HONORABLE MENTIONS


Janelle Giordano
Janelle Giordano

Caroline Young
Caroline Young

Avery Acker
Avery Acker

Sophomore Avery Acker was named Setter of the Year in the American Athletic Conference, one of five Mustangs to earn all-conference honors after leading SMU to a 22-9 record and a second-place finish during the inaugural season of the league.
Acker was joined on the first team by junior outside hitter Caroline Young and freshman middle blocker Janelle Giordano

With 1,199 assists this season, Acker became the sixth player in SMU history with 1,000 during a season, averaging 11.21 per set. She led the league in conference matches, averaging 11.56 per set with a league-high 728. She also had 264 digs, finishing with a team-high 12 double-doubles, including a career-high 17 digs with 51 assists in a four-set win at Rutgers. She eclipsed 50 assists five times this season, with a career-high 57 in a four-set win against Davidson.
Acker also was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I All-Southeast Region team, marking the fifth straight year an SMU player has been selected. The sophomore setter earned honorable mention and was one of just four American Athletic Conference players honored among the 10 region.
In addition, she became the fourth player in program history to earn All-America status, earning honorable mention to the 2013 AVCA All-America team. The sophomore setter joins Dana PowellKendra Kahanek and current-player Caroline Young, as Mustangs to earn All-American honors, and was one of just two players from the American Athletic Conference to earn the award this season.
Young earned her third all-conference award, earning first-team honors last season after being named to the All-Freshman team in 2011. She ranked second in conference matches with 3.51 kills per set, and was eighth in the league with a .318 attack percentage. Young had at least 10 kills 23 times, including 14 of 18 conference matches. She had four double-doubles, finishing with 167 digs, and had 73 blocks. She was also named conference Player of the Week a league-best four times this season.
Giordano led the team and ranked sixth in the league with a .308 attack percentage, and hit .320 in conference matches, ranking seventh. She averaged 1.19 blocks per set in league play, ranking sixth, and finished the season with 113 total blocks, including a season-high eight against San Francisco. Giordano also scored 219 kills, and had at least 10 in a match four times.
 
Abbey Bybel
Abbey Bybel

 
Cailin Bula
Cailin Bula

Cailin Bula and Abbey Bybel were named to the second team, as voted on by the league’s coaches.

Bybel finished second on the team with 268 kills, finishing with at least 10 in 14 matches, including eight league matches. She ranked 15th in the league, averaging 2.68 kills per set in conference matches, and had three double-doubles, recording a career-high 15 digs at Temple. She had 212 digs, third on the team, and 37 blocks.Bula recorded 232 kills, reaching double figures in a match 12 times, and led the conference in aces per set. She had 29 on the season, and was tied for the league-lead with 21 in conference matches. Bula had a career-high 17 kills at home against South Florida, and finished with 15 against Davidson. She also had 74 digs and 42 blocks.SMU played home games at the Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports while Moody Coliseum was being renovated. The Mustangs will return to the updated arena for the 2014 season.
Categories
News

SMU Research Team Studies Player ‘Flopping’ In Sports

SMU biomechanics experts have teamed with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to study the practice of player flopping in basketball and other sports. The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study.

Peter Weyand
Peter Weyand

Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls.
The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping.
“The issues of collisional forces, balance and control in these types of athletic settings are largely uninvestigated,” says SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who leads the research team.
The objective of the research is to investigate the forces involved in typical basketball collisions, says Weyand, associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.
Other members of the research team include engineer and physicist Laurence Ryan; Kenneth Clark, doctoral student in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory; and mechanical engineer Geoffrey Brown.
The research findings conceivably could contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines, Weyand says. “It may be possible to enhance video reviews by adding a scientific element, but we won’t know this until we have the data from this study in hand.”

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News Uncategorized

SMU Students Work With Bush Institute, Zambians To Improve Women’s Health Care

By Patricia Ward
Tyrell Russell, a sophomore Hunt Leadership Scholar from Riviera Beach, Florida, planned on taking an organic chemistry course over the summer. Instead, he embarked on “the trip of a lifetime” with fellow SMU students Katie Bernet, Melanie Enriquez and Prithvi Rudrappa. In June they met up with a group of volunteers led by former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush ’68 for a weeklong renovation of a cervical cancer screening and treatment center in Livingstone, Zambia.

A group of volunteers organized by the George W. Bush Institute helped renovate the cervical cancer screening and treatment center in Livingstone, Zambia, shown above. Among the volunteers were (left to right) Pam Jackson, SMU junior Prithvi Rudrappa, Carolyn Creekmore, Professor Eric G. Bing, SMU sophomores Tyrell Russell and Melanie Enriquez, and SMU junior Katie Bernet.
A group of volunteers organized by the George W. Bush Institute helped renovate the cervical cancer screening and treatment center in Livingstone, Zambia, shown above. Among the volunteers were (left to right) Pam Jackson, SMU junior Prithvi Rudrappa, Carolyn Creekmore, Professor Eric G. Bing, SMU sophomores Tyrell Russell and Melanie Enriquez, and SMU junior Katie Bernet.

Immersed in a situation in which limited material resources and a patriarchal culture have blocked progress in the past, the students witnessed the power of a community’s boundless determination bolstered by its international partners’ resolve to improve medical care. As hands-on participants in the clinic overhaul, the students not only assisted with a lifesaving project, but they also found new purpose as they continue their educations at SMU.
“The experience gave me a new perspective,” says Russell, a double major in biology and philosophy in Dedman College. “It inspired me to explore the humanities side of medicine, including the cultural barriers that prevent people from seeking treatment.”
The students were recommended for the project by their respective schools or programs. After submitting applications, they were interviewed by Eric G. Bing, who traveled with them to Africa. Bing, professor of global health in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, serves as senior fellow and director for global health at the Bush Institute. The Bush Institute paid all expenses, except for students’ vaccinations and malaria pills.
In Africa, the students worked with local Zambians, U.S. Embassy officials and Bush Institute staff – including SMU alumna Hannah Abney ’02, director of communications for the Bush Institute – on the Mosi-Oa-Tunya Clinic. The clinic is part of Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, the George W. Bush Institute’s flagship global health program. The public-private partnership focuses on cervical cancer prevention, screening and treatment, as well as breast and cervical cancer education efforts, in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
SMU junior Prithvi Rudrappa takes five with a group of children on a soccer field in Simoonga, a village near Livingstone, Zambia. Photo by Katie Bernet.
SMU junior Prithvi Rudrappa takes five with a group of children on a soccer field in Simoonga, a village near Livingstone, Zambia. Photo by Katie Bernet.

Cervical cancer is a growing public health concern in Africa. According to the World Health Organization, Zambia has the highest cervical cancer mortality rate globally, with 38.6 deaths per 100,000 women.
When the students arrived June 21, major construction had already been completed on the clinic, so the students pitched in on the finishing details, including interior and exterior painting and floor installation. The Bush Institute’s humanitarian project not only improved a critical medical resource, but it also created a cross-cultural bridge, says Enriquez, a Hunt Leadership Scholar from Corpus Christi, Texas.
“Working alongside Zambians daily during the renovation and speaking with the women at an operating cervical cancer clinic were priceless experiences,” says Enriquez, a sophomore on the pre-medical track in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. “Even though we have lived completely different lives on opposite sides of the world, in most cases, we shared the same core values of family, faith and education.”
The extraordinary opportunity “showed me that learning should not be limited to the classroom,” she says. “I will now seek more opportunities, such as a study abroad program, to enhance my academic experience.”
SMU sophomore Melanie Enriquez says the volunteer experience in Zambia made her realize "learning should not be limited to the classroom." Photo by Katie Bernet.
SMU sophomore Melanie Enriquez says the volunteer experience in Zambia made her realize “learning should not be limited to the classroom.” Photo by Katie Bernet.

Rudrappa also has set his sights on a health-related career, which he is now considering in a global context. The son of a primary care physician in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Rudrappa began working at hospitals as a high school student. He spent summers in facilities as varied as a small clinic in rural Missouri and an urban medical center in Detroit.
Working in Zambia “made me realize what a powerful health-care tool education can be, which has inspired me to get involved in shaping global health policy,” says Rudrappa, a junior Dedman College Scholar studying biochemistry and finance in the Cox School of Business.
He is now assisting Bing with a project to determine the costs and efficiencies of scaling up cervical cancer screening and treatment in Tanzania, Botswana and Zambia, countries included in the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative.
For Russell, a trip to a nearby village was a defining moment. “I was so impressed by the residents’ ingenuity and resourcefulness. They were able to find value in the smallest things,” he says. “It made me more appreciative of things that we often take for granted, like our health and family.”
The trip influenced Bernet, a junior advertising and photography major in Meadows School of the Arts, to visualize her future in broader terms. “I know that I want to do something that makes me feel the way I did during that trip,” she says, “like I’m a part of something that matters.”
Bernet, now a marketing and communications intern with the George W. Bush Presidential Center, used her photography talents for a project to highlight the women’s lives outside the medical setting.
“We distributed 19 disposable cameras and asked the women to take pictures of what they felt were the most important aspects of their lives,” she explains.
Most of the women photographed their children, families and homes, she says.  “I have pictures of myself when I was young posing in the same way that a Zambian girl is posing in one of the photographs. We face vastly different circumstances, but underneath it all, we are very much the same.”
Hannah Abney recommends that students interested in global health and other Bush Institute focuses apply for internships.
“Because the Bush Center sits on the SMU campus, SMU students have a unique opportunity to volunteer and intern for projects that few other students have access to,” she says. “Whether it’s in global health or any of the other Bush Institute focus areas – including education, military service, women’s issues, human freedom and economic growth – one of the most exciting elements of the work is exposing SMU students to new and different ideas, and learning from them as well.”
Read about other SMU students making a difference around the world on the SMU Adventures blog site.

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Alumni

Accomplished Alumni Trace Career Awakenings To SMU

By Patricia Ward
An Academy Award-winning film by alumnus William Joyce ’81 wrapped adult emotions in a magical tale that speaks to audiences of all ages. Another alumnus, Travis Tygart ’99, led an investigation that revealed consistent doping by cyclist Lance Armstrong. And alumna NoViolet Bulawayo ’07 won international praise and a Man  Booker Prize nomination for her provocative first novel.
Although the alumni have earned fame in diverse fields, they share an appreciation for the SMU faculty members who recognized and nurtured their talents.
“If you’re lucky, you get a couple of teachers that sort of get you and say ‘you might really succeed,’ and that happened at SMU,” Joyce said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News October 25. “There was a really nice group of teachers that put up with all my shenanigans and encouraged this crazy bunch of enthusiasms that I was hell-bent on merging.”
As a measure of the University’s impact, the trio’s accomplishments set a gold standard that also is being met by thousands of other successful graduates around the globe. Following are stories of their internationally recognized achievements and how their SMU student experiences helped set the trajectory of their futures.
Painting A Global Picture
In her remarkable first novel, We Need New Names, NoViolet Bulawayo speaks in a 21st-century voice as she weaves a global generation’s immigration story. Lauded by literary critics worldwide, she became the first black African woman – and the first writer from Zimbabwe – to be shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize this year. She also was the only debut novelist on the list.
NBGraphic2Among those praising Bulawayo’s work was Michiko Kakutani, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for The New York Times. In a review published May 15, she called the novel “deeply felt and fiercely written” and described Bulawayo’s powerful “pictorial language” as possessing “the indelible color and intensity of a folk art painting.”
Speaking to Publisher’s Weekly, Bulawayo said her book “is not fiction fiction … it’s very much born out of politics.” The author entwines the grim headlines of Zimbabwe’s recent history with the story of 10-year-old Darling and her group of young friends. After a government-sponsored relocation program obliterates her community and unravels her family, Darling is sent to live with an aunt in the United States. As years pass and the girl becomes an Americanized teenager, Bulawayo captures the push and pull of the immigrant experience. No matter how comfortable Darling becomes in her adopted country, she feels the tug of her birthplace, a longing for home.

Author NoViolet Bulawayo was the first writer from Zimbabwe to be shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize.
Author NoViolet Bulawayo was the first writer from Zimbabwe to be shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize.

Soon after the Booker nomination, Bulawayo was selected by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz for the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” program, which honors young fiction writers tapped by past National Book Award honorees. As the fiction editor for the Boston Review, Díaz had published her short story, “Hitting Budapest,” which won the Caine Prize for African Literature in 2011. That story became the first chapter of We Need New Names.
Shortly after receiving the Caine Prize, Bulawayo talked with Shelley Strock ’07, a former SMU classmate, in an interview posted on the English Department blog. In the interview Bulawayo said she did not start taking her writing seriously until she enrolled at SMU. She credited English professors David Haynes, head of SMU’s creative writing program, and Beth Newman, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program, with “getting her in line” as a student and giving her “the courage to go for it.”
Haynes did not have to wait for her book to know Bulawayo would become a literary sensation. While she was working toward her master’s degree in English, she participated in his undergraduate creative writing workshop. She had not yet adopted her pen name and was known as Elizabeth Tshele. From the first assignment she submitted to him, Haynes “knew this work was something special.
“The writing was extraordinary, not just for the quality but because of the depiction of the troubled lives of the characters in the story,” Haynes says.
Bulawayo, now a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, continued working with him for another year, producing a creative thesis for her master’s degree. In that “impressive body of fiction, she began her exploration of some of the characters and situations that eventually became We Need New Names,” Haynes says.
The novel is “stunning, deserving of all its accolades,” he says. “By reinventing the story of the relationship between immigrants/emigrants and their homes, NoViolet has made a significant contribution to the world of fiction.”
THE ‘MISCHIEVIAN’
William Joyce – author, illustrator, filmmaker and self-proclaimed “rascal” – played a special role in the 2013 Homecoming celebration. He served as grand marshal of SMU’s book-themed Homecoming parade, a salute to the University’s Year of the Library. The recipient of a 2004 Distinguished Alumni Award, he also was honored along with other Centennial History Makers at the annual DAA dinner and ceremony. During the week, he also visited two elementary schools where he read from his books and delighted the youngsters with rollicking tales from his childhood.
WJGraphic2
And, at a free community event on campus, he showed his Oscar-winning animated short, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.” A world like no other came to life before 350 children and adults as the dialogue-free movie combined humor, allusions to the “The Wizard of Oz” and Hurricane Katrina, and pathos. When the lights in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center theater went up, children and adults smiled and wiped away tears.
Less than 15 minutes long, the movie encapsulates Joyce’s mammoth creative powers. “Bill’s special gift is his ability to hold onto a sense of childhood wonder,” says Sean Griffin, chair of Film and Media Arts in SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts. Griffin led a question-and-answer session with Joyce after the screening. “He taps into that yearning in adults to come back to that mindset, to celebrate imagination and faith in magic.”
Joyce told the audience he had always “wanted to do something with flying books.” On a trip to New York to visit his ailing mentor, the late publisher Bill Morris, he wrote Morris Lessmore with his friend in mind.
Although it was originally planned as a book, it first became a movie, the debut film of Moonbot Studios, a multimedia startup he helped found in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana.
The Mischievians, William Joyce’s new book, is a field guide to the secret world  of the Remote Toter, the Sock Stalker and other mischievous characters.
The Mischievians, William Joyce’s new book, is a field guide to the secret world of the Remote Toter, the Sock Stalker and other mischievous characters.

In a 2011 profile, The Atlantic called Moonbot Studios the “Pixar for the iPad age.” One of Moonbot’s latest projects, “The Scarecrow,” made headlines when it captured more than 7 million views on YouTube in September. Moonbot collaborated with Chipotle Mexican Grill on the short film and companion mobile game app that supports the restaurant chain’s “Food with Integrity” focus on responsible agriculture.
Joyce’s two latest books are The Mischievians, a pictorial guide to the sock thieves lurking in dryers and other mischief-makers, and The Sandman and the War of Dreams, the fourth chapter book in his The Guardians of Childhood series. They demonstrate the artistic versatility that he traces, in part, to his time as an
SMU student.
“I started taking journalism classes and worked for The Daily Campus. I learned how to tell a story quickly and succinctly,” he said. “In Meadows, all of the arts are in the same building. So you see it and feel it and soak it up. That fed my curiosity and imagination. It showed me that art does not have to have boundaries.”
PLAYING FAIR AND SQUARE
As the chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) since 2007, Travis Tygart has taken on professional cycling’s Goliath – seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and his powerful entourage. Tygart’s thorough investigation of the athlete’s use of banned performance-enhancing substances over a period of years ended in Armstrong’s disgrace. The cyclist eventually admitted to doping, was stripped of his titles and banished from the sport.
T'ygartGraphic2Tygart, who earned a Juris Doctor with Order of the Coif honors from SMU’s Dedman School of Law in 1999, was on campus August 26 for lectures on “Playing Fair and Winning: An Inside View on Ethics, Values and Integrity from the Lance Armstrong Case.” He talked to students and faculty at the law school and later spoke as the Delta Gamma Lecturer in Values and Ethics at an event co-sponsored by SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.
In introducing her former student, Julie Patterson Forrester, the law school’s interim dean, quoted TIME magazine, which named Tygart one of 2013’s 100 most influential people in the world: “No one would argue with the philosophy of doping-free sport, but few are willing to undertake the demanding work of identifying cheaters and imposing sanctions on them,” wrote Dick Pound, former chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency. “Score one for the good guys.”
Tygart descibes USADA’s role as protecting “clean athletes who are frustrated by being tainted” by cheaters. His commitment to that mission kept the attorney going despite death threats – two men were indicted in July following an FBI investigation – and an organized campaign to discredit him and derail his inquiry.
Travis Tygart talked about the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation of cyclist Lance Armstrong at a lecture on values and ethics at SMU.
Travis Tygart talked about the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation of cyclist Lance Armstrong at a lecture on values and ethics at SMU.

An athlete with youngsters involved in team sports, Tygart said a “win at all costs” culture has hijacked athletics on every level – from parents giving their eight-year-old energy drinks for swim meets to Armstrong’s sophisticated doping operation. “Whether you’re an athlete or running a business or practicing law, if you build on a foundation of fraud, it is all going to come down at
some point.”
Tygart joined USADA “because I wanted something bigger than myself to commit to every day.” He previously practiced sports law with a firm in Colorado. He credits his SMU education with providing “a great foundation” for his current role.
“My professors taught me to want to be a good person,” he said. “I also got a sound legal education and great experience at the legal clinics. I wrote an anti-trust paper and Title IX paper, both of which got published. All of that was good preparation when an opportunity opened up for me in sports law.”

 
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News

Former Mustang Football Players Making Waves In NFL

By Chris Dell ’11
On the third and final day of the 2013 NFL Draft, former SMU running back Zach Line ’13 was waiting at his home in Oxford, Michigan, to hear where his NFL career would begin.
Zach2The first glimmer of hope came in the fifth round when Line received a phone call from an NFL coach telling him he would be the team’s next pick. But the team chose someone else. Another coach called with the same guarantee. Once again, Line was not selected. The same routine played out four more times throughout the draft, which ended with SMU’s most decorated running back since Eric Dickerson ’83 without a home.
Hours after that letdown, Line received a call from the Minnesota Vikings, and he accepted a rookie minimum contract as an undrafted free agent, facing long odds of making the team’s 53-man roster.
“You’ve got to trust coaches to make the right decisions,” Line says. “You see guys whom you’ve competed against get drafted, and you know you’re better. Once I got on the field, I thought I could make it.”
Currently, 10 SMU alumni are playing football in the NFL on Sundays. Some, such as Margus Hunt ’13 and Emmanuel Sanders ’10, were drafted early (second and third rounds, respectively). But many more have waited until the later rounds to find a team.
NFLPlayersA year before Line began his rookie journey, wide receiver Cole Beasley ’12 faced the same improbable odds when he entered the Dallas Cowboys training camp as an undrafted free agent. Beasley finished his career at SMU with the third most receiving yards and second most receptions in team history, but he was not expected to catch any passes in the NFL because of his 5-foot-8 stature.
However, Beasley made a name for himself as he fearlessly ran routes through the middle of the field, eluding defenders with his speed. He ended up making the Cowboys’ 53-man roster and catching 15 passes for 128 yards in the 2012 season. His former teammate, Aldrick Robinson ’11, who was drafted in the sixth round by the Washington Redskins a year earlier, broke out in 2012 with 237 yards and three touchdowns on 11 catches.
Many former SMU players now in the NFL, such as Beasley, Line, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum ’12 and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darius Johnson, say they flew under the radar in college because of SMU’s lower national television exposure compared to schools in bigger athletic conferences. Nevertheless, head coach June Jones has been known in his six years on the Hilltop for grooming players who have succeeded in the NFL. One of the major changes Jones made when he came to SMU was creating an environment of personal accountability, where players are expected to practice and play with excellence and become hardworking men of integrity.
“A lot of players have their hands held throughout college, and when they get to the pros it’s a rude awakening,” says Jones, who played four years in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and later became their head coach for three seasons. “The way we treat players here is just like they’re treated in the pros. When we practice and when we meet together, we hold each other accountable. We coaches don’t yell, holler or scream, but everyone has to take care of his business if he’s going to play.”
Line was known as a player who took care of his business at SMU, and it was his work ethic and maturity that helped him beat improbable odds to make the Vikings’ final roster. He even started a game before suffering a season-ending injury in late September. Line hopes the injury is just a minor setback in the beginning of a long NFL career, one in which he could follow in the footsteps of other successful SMU graduates, such as New Orleans Saints punter Thomas Morstead ’09, who won a Super Bowl in his rookie season in 2009 and made his first Pro Bowl in 2012.

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News

Endowed Chairs Add Special Areas Of Expertise To The Faculty

SeatsBannerBy Susan White ’05
In September, when SMU announced that it had attracted an internationally recognized expert in cyber security to the faculty, as well as a scholar in international politics and national security, it was evident that the University was expanding research and teaching in areas critical to a global society. They are among several faculty who have joined SMU as endowed chairs in areas ranging from economic freedom to medieval studies.
EndowedGraphicEndowments created through The Second Century Campaign provide permanent funding for scholarships, faculty positions, research opportunities, academic programs and facilities. With endowed faculty chairs, SMU can recruit top faculty and reward current faculty for outstanding research and teaching.
Normally, a gift designated for an endowed faculty position takes five years to become fully funded before an appointment can be made. But during The Second Century Campaign, the Board of Trustees established new centennial endowments in recognition of SMU’s 100th anniversary. These giving opportunities provide permanent funding as well as operational funds to initiate the faculty position or scholarship quickly. For example, Centennial Distinguished Chairs are endowed at $2.5 million, plus start-up funding of $1 million for the first five years to provide immediate support for the position and related research. Other funding levels create Centennial chairs and professorships.
To date, SMU has 96 substantially endowed faculty chairs. SMU’s Board of Trustees recently increased the targeted goal from 100 to 110 endowed faculty positions for the remaining two years of The Second Century Campaign. The number is significant because of what it tells the rest of the world about the University, including organizations that rank colleges and universities, says Linda Eads, associate provost for faculty affairs and Dedman School of Law professor.
“The best faculty in the country note if SMU is hiring for and growing its number of endowed chairs. It means that SMU is on the move academically and that our alumni and donors support our goals in this area. To attract the best faculty you have to match what other comparable institutions are offering, and endowed chair support enables us to do that. Raising funds for endowed chairs shows that we are going after the best and keeping the best.” Eads also notes that endowed chairs often attract external funding for their research, particularly in the sciences and engineering. “Most importantly, what they bring with them is their network and ability to bring us into the national discussion in a variety of areas,” she says.
NAVIGATING CYBERSPACE
Joining a team already conducting research on cyber security in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering is Frederick R. Chang, the new Bobby B. Lyle Endowed Centennial Distinguished Chair in Cyber Security. Chang, whose career credentials include leadership positions in academia, business and government, will develop a multidisciplinary program aimed at tackling today’s most pressing cyber challenges.

Centennial Distinguished Chair in Cyber Security Fred Chang (left) and benefactor Bobby B. Lyle.
Centennial Distinguished Chair in Cyber Security Fred Chang (left) and benefactor Bobby B. Lyle.

Chang says he enjoys working toward something bigger than himself – a philosophy that carries over from his service at the National Security Agency and that he shares with SMU students. “There are some very difficult problems that the nation faces in cyber security,” he says. “I am confident that SMU, working with different partners, can make a difference at the national level.”
Chang will add to the research that Computer Science and Engineering faculty members Suku Nair, Mitch Thornton and Tyler Moore are conducting in network security. “What is required today is cyber security research that incorporates innovative thinking with consideration of people, processes and technology,” he says.
Chang’s Centennial Distinguished Chair is made possible by a financial commitment from SMU trustee and longtime benefactor Bobby B. Lyle ’67, for whom SMU’s engineering school is named. “Research will be significant under Dr. Chang’s leadership, but he also intends to teach courses that make information about cyber science and security accessible to students of all disciplines,” Lyle says. “That’s a tremendous gift, as understanding the rules in cyberspace becomes more important in our daily lives.”
Reflecting a trend toward greater interdisciplinary collaboration, Fred Chang is also a senior fellow in the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies.
EXAMINING FORCE AND WAR
Joshua R. Rovner, the new John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security
Joshua R. Rovner, the new John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security

Looking at security issues from another angle is Joshua R. Rovner, the new John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security, who aims to bring wide-ranging discussions on the use of force and war to SMU’s undergraduate program in political studies. He recently added to the conversation when he served as co-convener of the sixth annual Tower Center National Security Conference in October featuring senior defense officials, military officers and leading national security experts.
Rovner, who writes extensively on strategy and security, also has been named director of studies for the Tower Center and associate professor of political science in Dedman College. His research on terrorism and surprise attacks challenges conventional wisdom, and his writing confronts widely held beliefs about counterinsurgency and U.S. strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before joining SMU, Rovner served as associate professor of strategy and policy at the U.S. Naval War College. He was attracted to SMU because of its commitment to undergraduate security studies, the national prestige of the Tower Center and the endowed chair. “The Tower Center is where undergraduates engage in meaningful debate over critical issues as they prepare for careers in public service,” he says. “It is a place to interact with faculty from across the University as well as public officials from the United States and abroad.”
A DISTINGUISHED TRADITION
Chang and Rovner join a distinguished list of faculty members who have held endowed chairs since the University’s early years, names familiar to the thousands of alumni they taught. SMU’s first endowed chair was the E.A. Lilly Professorship of English, established in 1920 and then held by Jay B. Hubbell, who founded the Southwest Review. The chair was later held by beloved English professors Lon Tinkle and Marsh Terry ’53, ’54, and since 2006 by former SMU provost Ross C Murfin, a scholar on 19th- and 20th-century British literature.
Eads points to Latin American history scholar Kenneth Andrien, the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Chair in History, as another example of a recent appointment that attracted national attention.
“Last year there was a review of SMU’s Clements Department of History by faculty from UCLA, USC and Yale, and one of the first things they mentioned was SMU’s impressive faculty for Southwest and
Eads, who has been a professor of law at SMU for 27 years, finds there are now more faculty throughout the University who are known regionally and nationally. She cites Bill Dorsaneo, the Chief Justice John and Lena Hickman Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Dedman School of Law, as an example of “stellar endowed faculty: He’s considered one of the absolute experts on Texas litigation and civil procedure, and his book on the subject is widely used in Texas courtrooms.”
STRENGTHENING PROGRAMS
Hermang Desai, the Robert B. Cullum Professor of Accounting in the Cox School of Business.
Hemang Desai, the Robert B. Cullum Professor of Accounting in the Cox School of Business

Hemang Desai, the Robert B. Cullum Professor of Accounting in Cox School of Business since 2007, joined SMU in 1998. As a nationally recognized researcher on mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, short selling and financial reporting, he often is quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and The New York Times, among others. He also chairs an Accounting Department that has two other endowed chairs – Jody Magliolo, Distinguished Chair in Accounting, and Wayne Shaw, the Helmut Sohmen Endowed Professor in Corporate Governance. Endowed chairs have enabled the Business School to recruit top researchers and teachers at both the senior and junior faculty levels, Desai says.
“The chairs help to build a department and develop a culture that helps attract other top-quality faculty. This has a direct impact on the quality of education for our students. We are very fortunate to have donors who want to make a difference in the lives of our students and, by extension, help develop future leaders of business and industry.”
Alyce McKenzie, the George W. and Neil Ayers LeVan Chair of Preaching and Worship
Alyce McKenzie, the George W. and Nell Ayers LeVan Chair of Preaching and Worship in the Perkins School of Theology

Alyce McKenzie, who has been at SMU since 1999, was appointed in 2011 to the George W. and Nell Ayers LeVan Chair of Preaching and Worship in Perkins School of Theology. The appointment signaled that “the University values as scholarship the fields of homiletics and liturgics, which are crucial to faith communities and bridge the distance between the academy and church. The chair will allow me to pursue my own passions in preaching and worship and to help re-energize the preaching and worship ministries of others,” she says.
(McKenzie also wryly notes that the chair was not just a title – she was actually given a chair. “It’s a beautiful captain’s chair with my name and the LeVan family’s name carved in the back. I sit in it every day.”)
Beyond the University, McKenzie is widely known in her field of homiletics, having written numerous books on preaching that focus on the wisdom literature of the Bible and, more recently, the role of creativity in preaching. She writes the blog Knack for Noticing that highlights “insights from everyday life that might spark ideas for sermons,” and the weekly column Edgy Exegesis, a reflection on the New Testament that attracts nearly 5,000 readers worldwide.
REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES
Tony Pederson, The Belo Foundation Endowed Distinguished Chair in Journalism
Tony Pederson, The Belo Foundation Endowed Distinguished Chair in Journalism, Meadows School of the Arts

Ultimately it’s the students who become the beneficiaries of what endowed faculty bring to the institution. Joining SMU in 2003 as The Belo Foundation Endowed Distinguished Chair in Journalism in Meadows School of the Arts, Tony Pederson brought perspectives based on 29 years with the Houston Chronicle, where he was managing editor and executive editor. An expert on media ethics and converging media, Pederson is a longtime activist on issues related to the First Amendment and international press freedom, especially in Latin America. Today he directs a journalism program that was strengthened in part through support from The Belo Foundation in Dallas. “It allowed us to build this terrific facility” that transformed the lower level of Umphrey Lee Center. It comprises three digital classrooms equipped with cable television and multimedia projection and a cutting-edge convergent media lab, among other resources.
The Belo gift also enabled Pederson to attract and support faculty who “are dedicated to the old-fashioned values of producing professional content and emphasizing reading, writing and editing. But they also teach students how to adapt to rapidly evolving methods for delivering news content – from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to social media venues such as Twitter.”
Mark Vamos, the William J. O'Neil Chair in Business Journalism
Mark Vamos, the William J. O’Neil Chair in Business Journalism

The funding also allowed the SMU Journalism program to respond to specific market needs in Dallas through focus areas in fashion, business and sports journalism. The William J. O’Neil Chair in Business Journalism attracted longtime journalist Mark Vamos to SMU. His background includes serving as a reporter and editor at Business Week, Newsweek, SmartMoney.com and Fast Company magazine. As the first holder of the O’Neil Chair, Vamos designed and launched an interdisciplinary program with the Cox School of Business to prepare undergraduate students to become business journalists for print, broadcast and the web.
“After 25 years as a working business journalist, I had become convinced that too many people were entering the field with too little knowledge and understanding of business and economics, and that they often were not making up for this deficit in the course of their work,” Vamos says. “I wanted to do something about that. The O’Neil Chair represents the cornerstone of SMU’s commitment, not just to offer a business journalism course, but to establish an innovative interdisciplinary program that would help train the next generation of business journalists.”
Linda Eads believes that SMU’s strong current faculty have created the kind of environment that welcomes and attracts the caliber of faculty who are appointed to endowed chairs, who in turn have created new energy among the faculty. “Our faculty and endowed chairs are very active people. They are always seeking ways to connect things, organizing colloquia, programs, symposia,” she says. “They are doing what they love. As more endowed chairs come here, they stimulate the environment for everyone else.”

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Alumni

Globe-Trotting Tenor Returns To His Meadows Roots

UPDATE: Tenor Juan José de Léon (Meadows, M.M. ’10) has been offered two roles next season with the world-renowned La Scala: Remendado in Carmen and Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor. In addition, he has been offered roles in two Opéra de Paris productions: La Cenerentola in 2017 and Capriccio (date to be determined).
Dressed in a T-shirt and distressed gray jeans, Juan José de Léon ’10 stood at the front of the classroom, looking like a high-tech entrepreneur about to launch a new gadget. Instead, the tenor filled the air with a glorious thunder, the “big voice” that has earned him opera roles across the globe.

Opera tenor Juan José de Léon '10 sat in on a Meadows voice class during a visit to campus earlier this fall.
Opera tenor Juan José de Léon ’10 sat in on a voice class taught by Virginia Dupuy during a visit to Meadows earlier this fall. Photo by Kim Ritzenthaler Leeson.

De Léon returned to SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts earlier this semester to catch up with former teacher Professor of Voice Virginia Dupuy and sit in on one of her classes. He and Dupuy met after he completed a bachelor’s degree in music at the University of North Texas in 2008 and was making the rounds to find the right program for the next stage of his training.
“I had one lesson with Virginia, and she had me singing in ways I hadn’t before,” he recalled. “We hit it off. We were a good fit.”
As the students sang their assigned pieces, de Léon listened intently. He offered words of praise – “such a good job of singing in character” – and some pointers – “really focus on your diction.” The students seemed a bit intimidated by his presence, but grateful for the rare opportunity to gain constructive feedback from a rising star on the international opera scene.
His recent visit to campus occurred during a break between engagements. His next stop was the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In October he made his debut with the Met in the American premiere of Two Boys, a new opera by Nico Muhly.
Having completed a two-year residency with the Pittsburgh Opera, de Léon calls Dallas home again. He is “pretty much booked up for the next two years,” with performances in Chicago, Atlanta, Stuttgart, Sydney and other cities in the United States and abroad.
SMU Professor of Voice Virginia Dupuy at Two Boys  with (from left) producer Will Trice (The Glass Menagerie, Porgy and Bess); SMU alumnus Stephen Hartley '01, covering the role of the father in the opera; Juan de Léon, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of the Congressional Page in Two Boys; and entrepreneur Trey Pratt.
SMU Professor of Voice Virginia Dupuy at Two Boys with (from left) producer Will Trice (The Glass Menagerie, Porgy and Bess); SMU alumnus Stephen Hartley ’01, covering the role of the father in the opera; Juan de Léon, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of the Congressional Page in Two Boys; and entrepreneur Trey Pratt.

“I don’t have to live in New York; I just need to be close to a major airport,” he joked.
Earlier this year, he was a semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and performed in the American debut of “I Sing Beijing” at Lincoln Center. He spent the summer performing with the renowned Wolf Trap Opera Company in Virginia.
Among other accolades, de Léon was a winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition in 2010 and made his Dallas Opera debut in 2011 in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
As a Meadows graduate student, he participated in the Dallas Opera/SMU Emerging Artists Program, presenting the “Opera in a Box: Follow Your Dreams” touring arts program to schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Such programs, which introduce opera to new generations, are crucial to the future of opera, he said.
“Opera is very much alive,” he said. “Companies are finding new ways to bring in younger patrons. At Pittsburgh, we had an outreach program for younger children and performed for 3,000 kids. They went crazy; it was like a rock concert.
“It’s gratifying when audiences are so engaged,” he added. “Their enthusiasm is contagious; you give back even more when you perform.”

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Alumni

Alumni Create New Possibilities For Special Needs Adults

Michael Thomas '06
Michael Thomas ’06

With academic backgrounds in art, business, philosophy and psychology, the four SMU alumni seemed unlikely to have intersecting career paths. However, Michael Thomas ’06, Megan McCann ’99, Casey Parrott ’08 and Elizabeth Romo ’86 have found a common denominator in My Possibilities.
My Possibilities is a nonprofit educational day program for adults with special needs who have “aged out” and are no longer eligible for special education programs provided by school districts, explains Thomas, executive director of the five-year-old program.
The 11,200-square-foot facility in Plano is the first of its kind in Collin County, he says. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and provides year-round programs for about 140 students each day. Vocational training, independent living skills development and socialization opportunities prepare students for full lives in the community.
Megan McCann '99
Megan McCann ’99

For Thomas, McCann and Parrott, the path to My Possibilities started at SMU.
Thomas, who earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from SMU’s Dedman College, worked with Special Olympics through his fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon. The volunteer experience helped steer him toward a career in the nonprofit sector. After graduation, he worked for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and other nonprofits in Texas and Nevada before joining My Possibilities.
McCann, a speech therapist, worked with Best Buddies International while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology at SMU. The volunteer organization promotes friendship with and employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Casey Parrott '08
Casey Parrott ’08

With a degree in studio art from Meadows School of the Arts, Parrott uses his artistic talents to help the students on several levels.
“We’re trying to teach them artistic skills to allow them to express who they are,” he says. “At the same time, it teaches interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and helps develop their motor skills.”
Romo has an even more personal connection to her work. “My husband and I have a 19-year-old child with a cognitive disorder, so that’s what really drew me to this organization,” she says.
She earned a B.B.A. from the Cox School of Business and worked in commercial real estate finance before leaving to raise three children. At the nonprofit, she specializes in resource development, using skills she honed over 17 years of volunteer service with various organizations.
Elizabeth Romo '86
Elizabeth Romo ’86
With the holidays approaching, the team is gearing up for its third North Texas Great Santa Run December 14 in Plano. In the spirit of the season, participants don Santa suits instead of event T-shirts for the 5K run or 1-mile walk. In addition to the run, there will be family-friendly entertainment, including a magic show by SMU alumnus Trigg Watson ’12.
“It’s more about the fun than the run,” Romo says.
About 4,000 people are expected at the event. All proceeds will benefit My Possibilities.
For Thomas, there’s an extra bit of pride involved when he thinks about sharing the experience with his fellow Mustangs.
“It has been gratifying to welcome more alumni to My Possibilities,” he says. “When a résumé comes across the table, it’s nice to think about extending our SMU family.”
— Sarah Bennett ’11 

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Alumni

Entrepreneurial Alumna Shaping Local Food Truck History

Ashlee Hunt Kleinert ’88, the culinary entrepreneur behind Ruthie’s Rolling Café food trucks, connects her career trajectory to her University education.

Ashlee Hunt Kleinert '88
Ashlee Hunt Kleinert ’88

“I love knowing why something happened and all the things we can learn from the past: what we can repeat and what shouldn’t be repeated,” says Kleinert, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from SMU and was a Dedman College Scholar.
She says lessons imparted by the late Glenn Linden, a favorite professor, still resonate with her today. “He taught me that history applies to everything and that we can use information gleaned from studying the past to shape the future.”
The analytical skills she developed as a student served her well in her latest venture. Kleinert started down the food truck route in 2010 when she contemplated their use at the charity galas and other large functions she designed through In Any Event, her special events planning company. After hearing more about food trucks at a national events conference, she was sold.
In an interview published in September in D CEO magazine, Kleinert admitted that her father, Ray L. Hunt ’65, was skeptical when she introduced her idea. Hunt, a well-known Dallas business and civic leader who serves on the SMU Board of Trustees, is now a huge fan.
The first Ruthie’s Rolling Café hit the streets of Dallas in 2011, just as the food-struck scene was gearing up. Kleinert’s grandmother inspired the name and the concept.
Ruthie's Rolling Café on campus
Ruthie’s Rolling Café on campus

“My grandmother’s name was Ruth. We’d go to her house and stay up late and talk and make grilled cheese,” she says. “So, we started with grilled cheese because we were trying to think of something that appeals to everyone; we wanted to be nostalgic and comforting. And we’re not gourmet cooks, so it felt authentic and real.”
Ruthie’s made-to-order sandwiches cover the grilled-cheese spectrum from The Classic – American cheese on sourdough bread – to The Truffle Shuffle – roast beef, white truffle oil, arugula and mozzarella on sourdough bread.
Since the business took off, Kleinert has phased out In Any Event to focus her full attention on the expanding fleet. The busy mother of three also manages a nonprofit, Executives in Action, which she formed with husband Chris in 2009. The group connects transitioning business executives with nonprofits in need of their expertise.
In addition to the original pink-and-blue truck, there is Ruthie’s Rolling Café Too, which also serves grilled-cheese specialties, and Ruthie’s Rolling Crêperie, billed as “French cuisine, Texas style: big and hearty,” featuring sweet and savory crêpes.
The Ruthie’s trucks are regulars on the SMU campus as part of the Tuesday and Thursday food truck rotation, as well as Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas, the Truck Yard on Lower Greenville Avenue and other local hot spots.
“Every time we go out, it’s like a little mini event,” Kleinert says. “The creativity and variety – every day is different – really appeals to me.”
— Sarah Bennett  ’11
 

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Alumni

SMU Alumnus Played Key Role In ‘Two-Buck Chuck’ Creation

Specialty grocer Trader Joe’s gained fame with its “Two-Buck Chuck” wine deal, which SMU alumnus Scott Toalson ’85 helped create.

After Scott Toalson '85 helped create Trader Joe's "Two-Buck Chuck," he retired to his hometown of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
After Scott Toalson ’85 helped create Trader Joe’s “Two-Buck Chuck,” he retired to his hometown of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Toalson played a key role in launching the popular vino while working for Bronco Wine Company in California. Trader Joe’s approached the vintner for a well-priced wine to sell in its stores, which were mainly located on the West Coast at the time. Bronco pegged its Charles Shaw label as filling the bill.
As the quality assurance lead, Toalson helped refine many details of the project, including the colors of the labels.
“I got lucky. I was at the right place at the right time,” he says. “When you do something you enjoy every day, it’s not really going to work.”
In 2002 Charles Shaw wines debuted in Trader Joe’s. Priced at $1.99 per bottle, the red and white varietals were hits and quickly gained the moniker “Two-Buck Chuck.” Although the price now hovers above its original “two bucks,” the wine remains among the supermarket chain’s best sellers. Since its introduction, more than 600 million bottles have been sold.
With its blockbuster introduction at Trader Joe’s, the value of the Charles Shaw label quadrupled, Toalson says. “I was offered two options: take a lump sum and stay on with the company or take an annuity with lifetime benefits,” he explains. He chose the annuity and headed back to his native Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to care for family members.
Toalson studied business management at the Cox School of Business and credits his SMU background with opening doors that led to the trajectory of his career. Bronco’s manager of development had a brother who graduated from SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, so she appreciated the value of an SMU education, he says. “I got hired because I went to SMU.”
A loyal Mustang, Toalson remembers first seeing the campus as a child while visiting an aunt in Highland Park and deciding SMU was the University for him.
“I’m very proud,” he says. “Everybody in town knows who I am because I drive down the avenue with my big ol’ SMU sticker.”
— Sarah Bennett ’11
 

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Alumni

Karen Hughes Honored As Dedman College Distinguished Graduate

Political and corporate strategist Karen Hughes ’77 was honored with SMU’s 2013 Dedman College Distinguished Graduate Award October 10.

Karen Hughes (left) with the Hon. Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, Texas House of Representatives, and SMU Trustee Jeanne Tower Cox '78, who serves on the board of the Tower Center for Political Studies.
Karen Hughes (left) with the Hon. Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, Texas House of Representatives, and SMU Trustee Jeanne Tower Cox ’78, who serves on the board of the Tower Center for Political Studies.

Named by The Associated Press as “perhaps the most influential woman ever to serve an American president,” Hughes earned bachelor’s degrees in English and journalism from SMU. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
Hughes’ ability to manage public policy, communications and politics helped brand George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservative” image, lending to the success of his gubernatorial campaigns beginning in 1994 and his subsequent campaigns for president.
From 2001-2002 Hughes served as strategic adviser to President Bush on policy and communications, managing all communications, speech writing and media affairs for the White House. She served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs from 2005-2007.
In accepting the award from Dedman College, Hughes called a liberal arts education “foundational” and credited SMU with preparing her for “working at the White House and in the State Department, representing our country around the world.
“What I learned here was the best possible preparation for those roles,” she said.
Two SMU professors, in particular, made a lasting impression. She spoke about the influences of the late Laurence Perrine and his English poetry class, where she “learned much more than word usage and rhyme,” and Joseph Tyson and his philosophy of religion course, where she “learned what motivates people to think and act as they do, invaluable training for the State Department.
“I don’t believe one specific thing that we talked about in those classes ever came up in a White House meeting, yet everything I learned in those classes prepared me for every White House meeting,” she said. “I learned how to think, evaluate arguments, test logic, analyze complex situations and use words in new and different ways to convey my thoughts and ideas effectively.”
Tyson, now SMU professor emeritus of religious studies, was among the guests at the awards luncheon.
Hughes said she was encouraged to “think, explore and discover” at SMU. “I am so grateful because that has made my entire life so much richer.”
Now based in Austin, Hughes is worldwide vice chair of the public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller, advising global business leaders on communications and branding strategies. She also serves on the board of SMU’s John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies in Dedman College.
Hughes is the author of Ten Minutes From Normal (Viking, 2004), which highlights her time in the inner circle of President George W. Bush, with whom she co-wrote A Charge to Keep (William Morrow, 1999).
In her personal life, Hughes is an elder in the Presbyterian church and has been a longtime Sunday school teacher. She is married to attorney Jerry Hughes and they have two children, Leigh and Robert.

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Alumni

London-Based Alumna Launches Organization To Fight Poverty

As an SMU senior, Adina Salehi Belloli ’02 channeled her passion for helping children into action by forming Care For Kids. The nonprofit organization, which she started with best friend Mica Odom ’03, held events to raise money for local children’s charities.

SMU alumna Adina Belloli '02 with husband Giorgio, son Nico and daughter Luna.
SMU alumna Adina Belloli ’02 with husband Giorgio, son Nico and daughter Luna.

More than a decade later, Belloli’s work still focuses on improving the lives of children. Now living in London with her husband, daughter and son, Belloli is preparing to launch Invisible, a non-governmental organization (NGO).
“We named the organization Invisible because children in poverty are made to feel invisible by society,” she explains. “But we see them; we stand with them.”
Invisible’s purpose is to provide “hope and resources for those without life’s essentials,” she adds.
Since earning a degree in psychology from SMU and a master’s degree in international health care, public policy and economics from Bocconi University in Milan, Belloli has served in various capacities with other NGOs, including the Cure2Children Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO). Those experiences provided the push she needed to take the next step.
“It was while doing research for the WHO that I realized I wanted to get back to doing more grassroots development and decided to utilize my knowledge and network to launch my own international NGO,” she says.
Invisible aims to help struggling communities create sustainable programs to address such needs as clean water delivery, health care improvements, alternative income development and access to education. “We work to build strong relationships with and obtain commitments from local governments, ministries of education, and community leadership,” she explains.
“We only work in communities to which we have been invited and rely heavily on the guidance of community members to select and prioritize the most appropriate projects,” she adds. “The program is designed to empower communities to break the cycle of poverty and support themselves over the long term.”
The first program will start this month in Quezon City, Philippines. The nation’s most populous city, which adjoins the capital city of Manila, was spared the worst of the recent Typhoon Haiyan, but the needs of thousands living in poverty are great. The NGO will take its cues from locals in shaping the scope of the project, she says.
Belloli says she called on her SMU network – she stays in touch with 10 close friends and several professors – for advice before launching Invisible. “SMU definitely helped me to get where I am today.”
— Sarah Bennett ’11 

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Alumni

SMU-in-Spain Experience Reunites Alumni During Homecoming

For SMU alumnus Kent Hofmeister ’73, ’76, studying abroad as a student through SMU-in-Spain was a life-changing experience. Forty years later, he gathered former classmates for a trip down memory lane at an SMU-in-Spain Mini Reunion during Homecoming Weekend.

Kent Hofmeister '73, '76 (seated on the grass in the foreground) organized the SMU-in-Spain Mini Reunion held during Homecoming Weekned.
Kent Hofmeister ’73, ’76 (seated on the grass in the foreground) organized the SMU-in-Spain Mini Reunion held during Homecoming Weekend.

Hofmeister, an attorney and founding partner of Brown & Hofmeister in Dallas, was already serving as co-chair for the Class of 1973’s Centennial Reunion when he decided to organize the Mustang Mini Reunion. The “minis” are alumni-driven gatherings that bring together classmates who shared a distinctive connection while at SMU.
“People were absolutely thrilled with the idea,” says Hofmeister, who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Meadows School of the Arts and a Juris Doctor from Dedman School of Law. “They’d say things like, ‘I can’t believe you’re calling me! That’s wonderful!’”
With alumni showing such keen interest, he quickly assembled an unofficial committee. Tobie Hayes Sasser ’73, ’74 jumped on board to host while Sally DeWitt Spurgin ’74 took charge of nametags.
Barry Hobbs ’73 and wife Gwen Dawson Hobbs ’74 volunteered to do a slideshow of old photos, and Hofmeister contributed video footage of street life in Madrid and surrounding villages. The multimedia presentation was a hit with the SMU-in-Spain alumni, he says. “People were amazed to see photos of themselves at that time.”
Approximately 40 students who studied in Spain in spring 1972 attended the get-together October 25.
Even those who couldn’t make it to the party had an opportunity to participate. Hofmeister had sent a short questionnaire to everyone before the event and compiled the answers in a scrapbook format. “That was really fun,” he says, as it conjured up memories from his time abroad as well as from his days on the SMU campus.
Hofmeister and his fellow celebrants are among the more than 2,000 alumni of the SMU-in-Spain program. Established in 1969, it is the University’s longest-running education abroad program.
While reconnecting and reminiscing was the main focus of the mini reunion, the event also served a philanthropic purpose with a Spanish flavor: Hofmeister led the “Goya Gives” drive, which raised about $5,500 for the Meadows Museum from the alumni group.
When he thinks back to his semester abroad, Hofmeister recalls being out of the country for the first time without cell phones or email to keep in touch. His memories of riding trains from Madrid to Barcelona, hitchhiking with buddies to castles, monasteries and caves, and taking a ferry into Morocco remain vivid. But what makes those recollections so special are the SMU alumni who share them.
“This was a special experience and a special group of people, and, collectively, everybody felt that way,” he says, “I don’t want to sound corny, but bringing the group back together was a labor of love.”
— Sarah Bennett ’11