Vision for a New Century

The Honorable Roy M. Huffington (’38) (third from left) celebrated his gift in March with fellow longtime SMU benefactors (from left) Edwin L. Cox (’42), former Texas Governor William P. Clements, Jr. (’39) and Cary M. Maguire. Huffington, who died July 11, will be “missed for his wisdom, great spirit and inspiring presence,” President R. Gerald Turner said.

The Honorable Roy M. Huffington built a successful career in the oil industry. In March, the Houston business leader and former U.S. Ambassador to Austria shared his legacy with the SMU department that gave him his start.

Huffington (’38), who received his Bachelor’s degree in geology from SMU, died July 11. His gift this spring of more than $10 million endowed the former Department of Earth Sciences, now renamed the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

The gift represents a long-term investment in the sciences, creating the Huffington Bicentennial Endowment Fund and complementing Huffington’s 2006 gift for faculty support and scholarships.

“Ambassador Huffington passionately believed that by providing permanent financial support for students and faculty, future generations of scholars would be able to pursue their aspirations,” says Vice President for Development and External Affairs Brad Cheves.

During the celebration of his gift, Huffington credited the late SMU Professor Claude Albritton with encouraging him to continue his education at Harvard University. “He instilled in me the knowledge that I needed to continue my geological studies instead of heading out to the oil patch.”

Prothro Biological Sciences Initiative

A $3.6 million gift from Dallas civic leader Caren H. Prothro and the Perkins-Prothro Foundation will establish the C. Vin Prothro Biological Sciences Initiative at SMU. The gift supports a new endowed faculty chair in the Department of Biological Sciences, in addition to an endowed research fund, graduate fellowship fund and undergraduate scholarship fund.

The faculty chair and endowed funds are named in memory of Prothro’s late husband, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dallas Semiconductor Corporation. Caren Prothro, a member of Dedman College’s Executive Board and of SMU’s Board of Trustees, says, “Our family is investing in what we consider to be a potential center of excellence at SMU.”

To learn about supporting Dedman College, please contact Director of Development Courtney Corwin at 214-768-2691 or ccorwin@smu.edu.

One of SMU's oldest and most distinguished academic departments has new resources to support the growing impact of its research and teaching, thanks to a gift of more than $10 million from the Honorable Roy M. Huffington of Houston. The gift endows the Department of Earth Sciences in SMU's Dedman College, now renamed the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences.

SMU President R. Gerald Turner (left) shakes hands with the Honorable Roy M. Huffington at the announcement.

With this new gift, Huffington has given SMU over $20 million in the last two years and a total of more than $31 million over many years of support for the University. In fall 2006, he provided just over $10 million in endowments for faculty support and student scholarships at SMU. Huffington received his bachelor's degree in geology from SMU.

"SMU's research and teaching in the earth sciences is already internationally recognized, producing successful scientists who help us understand the history of our planet as well as the prospects for developing future energy resources," said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. "Roy Huffington's generosity will enable the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences to make an even greater impact on the challenges faced on a global level."

"An expanding need for earth science professionals has resulted from increased environmental concerns and other growing demands," said Paul W. Ludden, SMU provost and vice president for academic affairs. "As SMU has responded to previous national needs, we are poised to prepare the next generation of earth scientists to address new national problems."

The study of geology has been part of SMU's curriculum from its opening in 1915. Through the years, the Geology Department evolved into the Department of Geological Sciences, a core discipline in SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences and one of the University's major research departments. Changing the name now from geological sciences to earth sciences reflects the broadened scope of this discipline.

"The term earth sciences more closely captures the essence of programs that are no longer solely confined to problems of subsurface geology," said Caroline Brettell, interim dean of Dedman College. "Earth sciences address some of the environmental and natural resource issues that are playing an increasing role in the political life of our nation."

The new Huffington gift will create the Huffington Bicentennial Endowment Fund for the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences. Along with Huffington's gift in 2006 for faculty support and scholarships, it is patterned after the Benjamin Franklin Trust, a unique fund established more than 200 years ago through the estate of the American statesman to benefit the cities of Boston and Philadelphia. As with the Franklin Trust, terms are set forth for use of the Huffington Funds while they continue to grow over the next two centuries.

The Huffington Department of Earth Sciences offers bachelor's degrees in geology, geophysics, environmental geology, environmental science and a new interdisciplinary degree program in environmental studies. The department's graduate programs include Master of Science degrees in geology, geophysics and applied geophysics; and Ph.D. degrees in geology and geophysics, which were among SMU's first doctoral programs in the mid-1960s. The department includes 11 full-time faculty members and several adjunct faculty and research associates.

"When astronauts went to the Moon the first time and sent back pictures of our planet, our concept of the Earth changed," said Robert Gregory, chair of the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences. "Modern geology is more properly called 'earth science' as it addresses not only the study of rocks and minerals, oil and gas or fossils, but the Earth as an interacting whole from the core to the atmosphere. Comparative planetology clearly shows how special we are: The Earth is the only place in the Solar System with the inherent stability of environment to allow us to flourish."

Earth sciences research at SMU has achieved international recognition in the areas of seismology, experimental petrology, geothermal studies and paleoclimatology, which integrates stable isotope geology, sedimentology and paleontology. Currently, research projects of the earth sciences faculty have external funding totaling more than $4 million from agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Energy. Research sites include Asia, Arabia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, Pacific Islands, the Americas and Europe.

Major earth sciences research facilities at SMU include:

• Geothermal Laboratory – the major repository for geothermal resource data in the U.S.
   
• Hydrothermal Laboratory – can simulate subsurface conditions and fluid-rock interactions to a depth of eight miles.
   
• Seismology and Infrasound Program – specializing in seismo-acoustic arrays and the sources of earthquakes, an integral part of the U.S. nuclear test detection efforts.
   
• Shuler Museum of Paleontology – major repository of vertebrate and plant fossils from North America and significant holdings from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
   
• Stable Isotope Laboratory – center for studies of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotopes of fluids and rocks with applications to Earth's major cycles, including ancient and modern climate.

Graduates of SMU's earth sciences programs have gone on to distinguished careers in academia, energy and mineral exploration, engineering, government research, law, medicine and politics.

Huffington is chair and CEO of Roy M. Huffington Inc., an independent, international petroleum operations firm based in Houston. His distinguished career has included global oil and gas exploration, international business, and military and diplomatic service. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he spent 10 years with Humble Oil and Refining Company, now ExxonMobil. In 1956 he founded Huffco, an oil and gas firm that began exploration in Indonesia in the late 1960s. A major gas strike there in 1972 led to a 25-year joint venture between Huffco and the Indonesian government. In 1988 Newsweek magazine listed Huffington as one of 25 Americans "in the forefront of building bridges to the East."

Huffington sold Huffco to the Chinese Petroleum Corporation in 1990, when he added another dimension to his international activities as U.S. ambassador to Austria from 1990 to 1993. As ambassador, he worked to open business opportunities between the newly accessible Eastern bloc countries and the West. Upon returning to the United States following his term as ambassador, he renewed his involvement in oil and gas investment.

After earning his B.S. degree in geology from SMU in 1938, Huffington earned both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in geology from Harvard University. His late wife, Phyllis Gough Huffington, earned her B.B.A. degree from SMU in 1943. Huffington has received distinguished alumni awards from SMU and the Harvard Business School. In 1990 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from SMU and delivered the Commencement address.

As SMU approaches the centennial of its founding, in 2011, and its opening, in 2015, the University is seeking additional resources to support outstanding students, faculty, academic programs and the campus experience. The new Huffington gift will support one of SMU's highest priorities ' the sciences ' and will continue to provide resources over the next two centuries.

Huffington's first gift to SMU patterned after the Franklin Trust was $5 million in 1990 to establish an unrestricted Huffington Bicentennial Endowment Fund. A portion of that fund is paid annually to SMU for current unrestricted use, while the fund continues to grow. The fund, which is administered as part of SMU's endowment, now has a market value of more than triple its original value.

In addition to the Huffingtons' bicentennial funds, their gifts to SMU include endowed faculty chairs in Finance and Geological Sciences, and several endowed scholarship funds. A member of the SMU Board of Trustees from 1980-87, Huffington was named a trustee emeritus in 1991. In 1996 he and his wife received the Mustang Award for longtime service and philanthropy to the University.

Among the many other honors Huffington has received are the Gold Medallion Oil Pioneer Award from the Indonesian government, the Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeichen Award (Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold) for services to the Republic of Austria, the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement from the American Petroleum Institute. He is also chairman emeritus of both the international Asia Society in New York City and the Salzburg Global Seminar in Salzburg, Austria.

The Huffington Department of Earth Sciences is only the second endowed academic department at SMU. The first is the William P. Clements Department of History. Its endowment has provided resources for significant development of the department, including a new Ph.D. program and the Clements Center for Southwest Studies.

Louise B. Raggio Endowed Lecture in Women's Studies

From left: Teach for America founder and CEO Wendy Kopp, the 2007 lecturer, with Louise Ballerstedt Raggio ('52), Linda Wertheimer Hart ('65) and SMU Trustee Milledge A. Hart, III.

A 1952 graduate of SMU's Law School, Louise Ballerstedt Raggio was the only woman in her class and was told she would never be hired as an attorney. She beat the odds and, since then, has done more to ensure the protection of women's legal rights in Texas than any other person in the state's history. As a result of Raggio's efforts in drafting the Texas Marital Property Act of 1967, women gained the legal right to own property, secure a bank loan and start a business without their husbands' consent.

To honor Raggio and her achievements, SMU and community leaders established the Louise B. Raggio Endowed Lecture in Women's Studies in 1997. The series brings outstanding women to SMU each year to meet with students and deliver a keynote address for the Dallas community. Speakers have included Southwest Airlines President Colleen Barrett, Ms. magazine founder Gloria Steinem and former Texas Governor Ann Richards.

In 2005, a group of Raggio's friends initiated the "Thanks a Million, Louise" campaign, which will bring the Louise B. Raggio endowment at SMU to $1 million. It is now within $6,000 of achieving this milestone, thanks in part to a $25,000 challenge grant from Linda Wertheimer Hart ('65) and Milledge A. Hart, III, announced as a surprise at this year's lecture.

To learn about supporting the "Thanks a Million, Louise" campaign, please contact Erin Sutton at 214-768-4633 or esutton@smu.edu.

June Jones

"When I met with the search committee, I saw the commitment to get back to the highest level of competition," says Jones, who arrived in January. During his nine years at Hawaii, he rebuilt a struggling football program to an undefeated regular season and into the national rankings.

Jones arrives as SMU prepares for a comprehensive fundraising campaign that will invest significantly in academic quality and campus life, to accelerate SMU's rise in national prominence.

SMU Athletics Director Steve Orsini, who led the search, thanks a select group of donors, The Circle of Champions, for underwriting Jones' contract and additional resources.

Said SMU President R. Gerald Turner, "From the classroom to the campus experience, generous donors are helping us attain the highest quality in everything we do."

Gathered around a portrait of the late pioneering journalist Julia Scott Reed are (from left) Jacquelyn McElhaney ('62, '82), chair of the Archives of Women of the Southwest Advisory Board; Reed's daughter Gayle Coleman; and Central University Libraries Dean Gillian McCombs. Coleman recently donated her mother's papers to the Archives of Women of the Southwest.

Halliday's speeches and lyrics are included among the papers she has donated to the Archives of Women of the Southwest at DeGolyer Library. She was the first to contribute to the "Remember the Ladies!" fundraising campaign, which will establish a $1 million endowment to support an archivist who will pursue acquisitions and catalog the collection.

In addition to Halliday's papers, the collection includes letters, documents and diaries of more than 150 other women, as well as records of women's organizations.

"As we prepare young women for leadership, they need a sense of history," says Dean and Director of Central University Libraries Gillian M. McCombs. "We have to know where we've been to know where we're going."

A $5,000 gift to the Archives honors mothers, mentors or other significant women with a plaque in DeGolyer Library.

To learn about supporting the "Remember the Ladies!" campaign, please contact Anne Brabham at 214-768-7874 or abrabham@smu.edu.

Jim Caswell ('63, '66, '70)

Jim Caswell Endowment for Leadership Development and Training

Senior Daniel Liu recalls that the late Jim Caswell ('63, '66, '70) defined leadership as "a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals toward a common goal."

SMU's former vice president for student affairs spoke from years of experience, with the goal of serving SMU students, says Liu, a student leader and representative on the Board of Trustees Student Affairs committee. "Dr. Caswell taught me to dream big and to believe in people. His life in itself was perhaps one of the greatest examples of what it means to be a leader."

Caswell, who died in October at age 66, spent nearly five decades at SMU as a student, teacher and administrator until his retirement in May 2007, touching the lives of an estimated 40,000 students and winning numerous honors. Now his legacy is being honored with a gift to nurture future campus leaders: the Jim Caswell Endowment for Leadership Development and Training.

The endowment supports innovative leadership training, internships and mentoring opportunities within the Division of Student Affairs, including LeaderShape, a program Caswell brought to SMU in 2004 that takes 30 students to Bridgeport, Texas, in May for a six-day retreat on leading with integrity. The endowment also supports leadership and career development courses within the academic curriculum.

"Jim Caswell believed in all of the ways our students experience leadership - from student organizations to residence halls to the Board of Trustees to the classroom," says Arlene Manthey, the Student Affairs development officer who worked with Caswell for more than 20 years. "This endowment will enhance these numerous opportunities. Dr. Caswell believed in our students' ability to do extraordinary things."

To learn about supporting the Jim Caswell Endowment for Leadership Development and Training, please contact Arlene Manthey at 214-768-4711 or amanthey@smu.edu.

Celebrating the announcement of a $10.1 million gift to the School of Engineering were (from left) Engineering Dean Geoffrey Orsak, President R. Gerald Turner, Communities Foundation of Texas Chairman Charles J. Wyly Jr., SMU Board of Trustees Chairman Carl Sewell ('66), CFT President and CEO Brent Christopher and Texas Instruments Chairman and SMU Trustee Tom Engibous.

Teaching Engineering as Exciting Ingenuity

For several days in December, the atrium floor of the J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building looked like a toy-strewn living room on Christmas morning - SMU students were competing to see whose autonomous robot could best deliver a ping-pong ball to a target across the floor.

This didn't look like a homework assignment; this looked like fun!

That's the spirit behind the new Caruth Institute for Engineering Education, an academic center designed to reach children across the country with innovative teaching techniques backed by a simple message: Engineering is fun, and through it, the skills you learn can change the world. With the success of the Caruth Institute, SMU will help restore American competitiveness and ingenuity by creating a new generation of innovative thinkers.

A $10.1 million gift from the W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation at Communities Foundation of Texas has endowed the Institute, which is revolutionizing the way science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are taught, and it also will help fund an innovative new building to house the program. This largest-ever gift to the School of Engineering will attract and retain one of the country's strongest teams of experts in engineering education to help build on existing successful programs such as:

- The Infinity Project - a program that delivers a hands-on curriculum, such as building cell phones, to encourage greater appreciation for
engineering and technology among K-12 students.
- The Gender Parity Initiative - an innovative program with a goal of ensuring SMU is the first engineering school in the country to have equal numbers of male and female students.
- Science Readiness Institute - a summer math and science preparatory program for North Texas middle schoolers.
- Visioneering - a signature award-winning program that lets millions of middle school students be "engineers for a day."

"Walk into a classroom where a teacher is writing formulas on a white board, and you will probably find students who are either asleep or want to escape," says Engineering Dean Geoffrey Orsak. "Walk into a classroom where students are building their own cell phones, and you will find students who want to become engineers."

To learn about supporting the Caruth Institute and new Caruth Hall, please contact Rob Strauss at 214-768-7505 or rstrauss@engr.smu.edu.

The late Laurence Perrine, a beloved professor of English, taught at SMU for more than three decades.

Laurence and Catherine Perrine Bequest

Laurence Perrine's love of poetry was so great that he penned rhymes "as a way to help us learn things," recalls son David of Dallas. Later, he helped thousands of students experience the joy of literature.

Laurence Perrine's distinguished career as a member of SMU's English faculty began in 1946 and spanned more than three decades, until his retirement in 1980 as the Daisy Deane Frensley Professor Emeritus. Since the 1950s, his influential textbooks, Sound & Sense and Story and Structure, have taught generations of high school and college students how to read and interpret poetry and literature.

Perrine, who died in 1995, and his wife, Catherine, shared an enthusiasm for education. Catherine Perrine met her future husband when she was teaching freshman English at SMU from 1948 to 1950 and subsequently became active in civic affairs and statewide environmental issues.

Now, Laurence Perrine's legacy is being extended through a $3.3 million bequest from the estate of Catherine Perrine, who died in 2006. It will fund scholarships and an endowed faculty chair in the Department of English, Dedman College.

- $1.5 million will establish the Laurence and Catherine Perrine
Endowed Chair in English to support a faculty position specializing
in creative writing.
- An additional $1 million will establish the Laurence and Catherine
Perrine Endowed President's Scholarship Fund for at least two President's Scholarships awarded to Dedman College majors.
- The remainder of the Perrine bequest will establish the Perrine
Endowed University Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships for
English majors, who will be known as Perrine Scholars in English.

"Whole generations of young people can attribute their enjoyment and understanding of literature to Laurence Perrine," said interim Dedman College Dean Caroline Brettell. "His influence continues through this generous bequest, which will enable the Department of English to strengthen its creative writing program with a new endowed faculty position and will allow Dedman College to attract some of the nation's brightest students through additional scholarship opportunities."

To learn about supporting the Department of English, please contact Courtney Corwin at 214-768-2691 or ccorwin@smu.edu.

President's Scholars 'Set the Bar Higher'

SMU Board of Trustees Chair Carl Sewell ('66) (far right) and his wife, Peggy ('72) (far left), have supported the endowment for President's Scholars, including: (from left) Ali Haidar, Angeline Nguyen, Ryan Meyer, Allison Chandler, Samantha Watkins, Rachel Simpson, Kaley Marcis and Tejas Chakravarthy.

The movement is SMU's rise in student quality over the past 25 years, achieved in part through scholarship offerings such as the President's Scholars Program, the most prestigious merit award the University provides. The program attracts exceptional students not only with full tuition and fees, but also with travel and study abroad; mentoring by civic, business and campus leaders; and interaction with distinguished campus visitors and community leaders.

Since its first class entered SMU in 1982, the President's Scholars Program has graduated 473 alumni. They attend some of the world's most prestigious graduate and professional schools, and succeed in careers ranging from medicine to diplomacy, and from engineering to the arts.

President's Scholars enter SMU with SAT scores of at least 1350, though most well exceed this minimum requirement. To satisfy their broad interests, they often pursue double and triple majors and become active in campus and community life.

Donors support the President's Scholars because "they represent outstanding human potential, and SMU has an obligation to be the best university it can be by including them in the campus community," says Carl Sewell ('66), chair of SMU's Board of Trustees, who with his wife, Peggy ('72), has endowed numerous President's Scholars. "They set the bar higher for their fellow students. Our faculty are also challenged by these bright students, and the professors welcome that. We know the high quality of SMU's programs serves these scholars well. It's a win-win situation when you can match quality with quality so that the students and the University both benefit."

The President's Scholars Program is supported by endowments created by individuals, corporations and foundations; sponsors of the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series; and annual gifts. That support is funding 85 President's Scholars this year, and SMU is seeking additional endowed scholarships to increase that number. The Scholars themselves have begun a tradition of "giving back" by establishing an alumni endowment. Recently, Kevin O'Meara ('86), who graduated with the first class of President's Scholars, became the first alumnus of the program to endow a President's Scholarship, named in honor of his parents, Robert F. and Jeanette K. O'Meara.

"The President's Scholars Program represents our common purpose. Thanks to
our donors we are raising the standards of academic performance."
- Board of Trustees Chair Carl Sewell

To the President's Scholars, full tuition is only part of the story. "They don't just give you money and turn you loose," says President's Scholar Amanda Wall. "They give you a support system, a little family. I'll bet there aren't a lot of scholarship recipients who can say they have pictures of their sponsors' children. I do! I have been honored to know Gregg and Molly (and Lily and Kate) Engles in my time here. Not to mention the world-class faculty and world-famous lecturers I've had access to through the President's Scholars Program. That's what this program is all about: incredible opportunities supported by instant, constant mentors and friends."

President's Scholars alumni will celebrate their 25-year reunion in the coming year. To learn about supporting this program, please contact Linda Preece at 214-768-4745 or lpreece@smu.edu.

James Quick

Graduate Studies Dean Quick

James Quick, SMU's new associate vice president for research and dean of graduate studies, possesses the clear-eyed look of a man who knows exactly where he's going on behalf of SMU, and how to get there.

"SMU needs to step up to the plate on high-profile problems in research," he says. "And, we have to communicate what we're doing - not just in the scientific and professional literature, but also to the nation as a whole. If we do these things, we will absolutely improve the research posture and prestige of the University."

Quick's target is supported by a University mandate to increase the level of sponsored research as it sets its sights on a lofty goal. "If one looks at the top-tier universities in the U.S., what you will find is that they all have a strong research component," he says. "SMU now stands well prepared to increase our research activity, broaden our research portfolio and propel ourselves into the top tier of American universities."

Quick says research is vital, not only to academic quality at SMU, but also to society.

"Human health, the environment, natural hazards, immigration, energy - these fields present opportunities for us as researchers to make a difference while enriching the educational experience of our students," he says.

Quick is well-suited for his role as the University's research czar. As a noted volcano expert at the U.S. Geological Survey, Quick developed a reputation for obtaining grants for money-strapped projects and increasing his department's funding.

Now, his focus is solely on SMU. "We have to capture a place on the national stage regarding research," he says, leaving little doubt of his destination.

Gifts from alumni, parents and friends have established dozens of endowed faculty positions at SMU, enabling the University to attract leading scholars. The endowments provide competitive salaries, significant research funds and other resources to support high-profile scholars.

Patricia Alvey Distinguished Chair and Director, Temerlin Advertising Institute for Education and Research

Patricia Alvey, who has worked in the fine art and advertising industries, leads the award-winning Institute at the Meadows School of the Arts. Much of her work focuses on creating successful communication programs for nonprofit organizations, and she has designed and implemented hundreds of campaigns for clients. Her key SMU projects include the World Citizens Guide, designed with SMU students to help reduce anti-American sentiment among global communities. The distinguished chair is supported by the endowment of the Temerlin Advertising Institute, named in honor of advertising legend Liener Temerlin's contributions to the city and profession.

John Holbert
Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics

As Sunday morning sermons change to appeal to younger and diverse audiences, Holbert's knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and Christian preaching provides Perkins School of Theology students with tools for communicating with their congregants. A prolific writer, he is the author of Preaching the Ten Commandments (Abingdon Press, 2002), as well as other books and articles on the Old Testament and homiletics. In 2007, Holbert received an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Award, which each year recognizes four SMU faculty with $10,000 grants and induction into SMU's Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

John S. Lowe
George W. Hutchison Professor of Energy Law

An internationally respected expert on petroleum law at the Dedman School of Law, John Lowe is an international legal adviser for Iraq oil issues in the Commercial Law Development Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He is the only academic to serve both as chair of the American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Environmental Law and president of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. In addition, he is an honorary lecturer and principal researcher at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and a senior fellow of the Faculty of Law of the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Maria Minniti
Bobby B. Lyle Chair in Entrepreneurship

Maria Minniti, who joined the Edwin L. Cox School of Business in 2007, is an expert on entrepreneurship, economic growth and complexity theory. She serves as the research director of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project, the world's largest ongoing cross-country study of entrepreneurial dynamics. She has published numerous articles and book chapters, and is working on a volume on entrepreneurial behavior for Oxford University Press. She also is associate editor of the Small Business Economics Journal and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

Learning in the Global Laboratory

Seyom Brown is the new John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security.

He's referring to counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan, Turkey's interventions in Iraq, China's growing ties with Africa and Latin America, Vladimir Putin's power in Russia - in short, anything in the world that's bubbling up, exploding or calming down, with implications for U.S. security.

"We're living in an extraordinarily complex and volatile system, in which today's 'adversary' is tomorrow's 'ally,' depending on the issue," says Brown, whose five-decade career in national security has taken him from the Departments of Defense and State to policy think tanks and academia. "The world needs serious inquiry into international relations."

Brown says his professorship in the Political Science Department is unique in emphasizing the policy arena, allowing him to pursue the discipline's most pressing issues. He also is helping to define long-term academic

"We're bringing Washington to SMU and SMU to Washington, where scholars and students can see how policy is made."
- Seyom Brown, the John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security

priorities as director of studies in the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

Endowed by SMU trustee Jeanne Tower Cox ('78), her husband, Berry Cox ('77), and a group of matching donors, the Tower Distinguished Chair is an example of how supporters are helping the University recruit and retain distinguished faculty in areas that reflect society's most pressing challenges.

"Since September 11, security issues have dominated the national agenda, and Seyom Brown brings us a wealth of experience in this field, along with access to decision-makers," says Jim Hollifield, director of the Tower Center and professor of political science.

Hollifield is a former colleague of Brown's at Brandeis University, where Brown most recently was the Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation. He also was a senior fellow in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a senior adviser in the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Brown is spending part of his time in the Tower Center's new Washington, D.C., office, conducting research for two book projects - an updated edition of The Faces of Power (Columbia University Press), an analysis of U.S. foreign policy since World War II; and a new book tentatively titled The Higher Realism (Paradigm Publishers), which advocates a shift in foreign policy after the 2008 election. The Washington office also provides a venue for Tower Center events and for interviews with policymakers.

To learn about supporting the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, contact Courtney Corwin at 214-768-2691 or ccorwin@smu.edu.

R. Gerald Turner

It has been a remarkable year of progress as we near the public phase of our upcoming campaign this fall. We are pleased to share the good news with you.

In this newsletter for our closest alumni and friends, you will see many examples of philanthropy and its direct impact upon students, faculty and our community. You will read articles that focus on the results of giving in four emphasis areas of our major campaign launching later this year: increasing student quality, promoting faculty excellence, supporting distinguished academic programs and enriching the campus experience.

For example, SMU has received $20 million from Harold and Annette Simmons to endow the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development. This endowment enables SMU to address more fully the critical education needs of our society, such as literacy, bilingual education and teaching methodologies based on research and results. The origin of this gift exemplifies the never-ending influence of teachers - they helped to shape the educational values of Harold and Annette Simmons, who are now extending that influence, creating a ripple effect of positive results.

Another issue facing our nation is the shortage of engineers, due partly to the challenges of math and science education in the nation's schools. Now, a $10.1 million commitment from the W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation at the Communities Foundation of Texas will establish the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education, bringing engineering studies to middle and high schools.

In addition, longtime SMU donor and leader Edwin L. Cox is extending the legacy of his vision for excellence in business education by endowing the new Cox BBA Scholars Program with a $5 million commitment, bringing the best minds to SMU and the business school named in his honor.

By investing in academic programs at SMU, visionary leaders in our community are able to make an impact on systemic issues they care most about. Our shared commitment and their ongoing support for scholarships and professorships strengthen the fabric of our community and ensure its prosperity for the future.

R. Gerald Turner
President

Naming of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School

Civic leader Annette Caldwell Simmons ('57) highlighted the value of education during the celebration of the gift to the school that has been named in her honor.

"Teachers were such an important part of my life, and I wanted to be like them," says Mrs. Simmons ('57), who, after graduating, taught elementary school in Dallas and the Philippines.

That appreciation for the value of education led to a landmark $20 million gift from Mrs. Simmons and her husband, Harold, that will provide endowment and facilities for SMU's newly created Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

"I'm just so glad that the gift will help other people enter this important field and that SMU can have one of the great education schools," Mrs. Simmons says. "Growing up in Tyler, SMU was always very special to me, and I felt privileged to have the opportunity to attend.

"My parents were not able to attend college, so it was very important to them that I have that opportunity. I am grateful that they sacrificed to send me to the best. So I am especially honored to have this important school named after me."

Mr. Simmons, founder and CEO of Contran Corporation, says, "I am pleased to support this innovative school and through that, to honor Annette. The School represents our shared commitment to support teachers like the ones who made a difference in our lives."

The gift establishes two endowed funds named in honor of Mr. Simmons' father, Leon Simmons, who was superintendent of schools in Golden, Texas, and his mother, Fairess Simmons, a teacher.

The gift provides $10 million toward construction of a new building for the new school. In addition, a $5 million Fairess Simmons Graduate Fellowship Fund will provide a minimum of 10 graduate fellowships. The remaining $5 million creates the Leon Simmons Endowed Deanship and supports faculty recruitment and research.

"Annette and Harold Simmons have demonstrated time and again their generosity and vision in meeting critical needs of our community, region and nation, "SMU President R. Gerald Turner says. "As civic leaders who deeply value education as the foundation of human achievement, they are helping us extend SMU's leadership in education."

Mrs. Simmons is a former member of the board of the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series and has served on the boards of numerous civic organizations. Mr. Simmons is a former member of the executive boards of SMU's Edwin L. Cox School of Business and Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. Their previous gifts to SMU include $1.8 million to establish the Simmons Distinguished Professorship in Marketing in the Cox School and $1.2 million for the President's Scholars Program.

To learn about supporting the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, please contact Vice President for Development and External Affairs Brad Cheves at 214-768-2666 or bcheves@smu.edu.

Annette Caldwell Simmons School Dean Chard

David Chard

"We intend to deliver on our promise to address the real needs in the education and service professions," Chard says. "Our country's future depends on it."

Donor support is helping Chard keep his promise. Three months after his arrival on campus in August, SMU received a $20 million donation from Harold and Annette ('57) Simmons that will go toward construction of a new building on campus and help attract the nation's brightest graduate students and faculty.

SMU has a responsibility to its community that stretches beyond the red-bricked campus, Chard says. The School helps prepare new and current teachers, trains people seeking advanced skills in counseling and dispute resolution, and administers the Master of Liberal Studies program. The School's research into methods for teaching children with learning and language challenges already is a national model.

Chard, who previously served as associate dean in the College of Education at the University of Oregon and has held faculty positions at Boston University and the University of Texas at Austin, believes SMU can have an even bigger national impact by developing a center that helps tie a strong community to a child's ultimate success. He learned that lesson as a teacher in struggling public school districts in Southern California and suburban Detroit.

"SMU has a rich history of educational leadership in disciplines critical to our region and nation."
- David Chard, the Leon Simmons Endowed Dean Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development

The School offers specialized programs in literacy training, bilingual education, English as a second language, gifted student education and learning therapy. Programs for master educators enhance skills in disciplines such as science, reading and mathematics. The School also offers a new Ph.D. in education focusing on literacy, language and learning.

"Further development of our education programs will strengthen our important partnerships with local school districts and community agencies, and will make us increasingly competitive for external research funding with national implications," Chard says.

With funding from numerous donors, each year SMU selects approximately 25 of the most gifted students in the new first-year class to receive full-tuition President's Scholar awards, the University's highest academic merit scholarship. In addition, up to six current students are chosen after their sophomore year to receive the scholarship as juniors and seniors. These exceptional scholars form a tight-knit community of highly motivated students, dedicated sponsors and supportive faculty mentors.

Karen Gutierrez, Lacerte Family President's Scholar

Senior Karen Gutierrez clearly recalls her first annual President's Scholar dinner with fellow scholars and scholarship donors, including her own sponsors, Lawrence and Joyce Lacerte. A first-year student from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she spoke to the guests about her dream of becoming a paleontologist since seeing the movie "Jurassic Park" at age 7. "I was so nervous about speaking to the group, but they were all kind and encouraging. President's Scholars are like a family."

Since then, Gutierrez, a triple major in geology, math and Spanish who plans to pursue a Ph.D. in paleontology, has studied abroad with SMU-in-Spain and twice visited Portugal, where she was a research assistant, exploring dig sites and extracting fossilized dinosaur eggs. "I am really happy with the opportunities that SMU has offered me. Not many undergraduates get to work in the field."

Jake Raju, Gregg and Molly Engles President's Scholar

Senior Jake Raju began the spring semester with a new internship at Ernst & Young, his fourth while at SMU. "The intern recruiters recognize what it means to be a President's Scholar," says Raju, adding that his courses at the Edwin L. Cox School of Business helped him gain confidence.

An accounting, economics and financial applications major from Dallas, Raju also has prepared for the work world with on-campus jobs, including serving as a tour guide for prospective students. With plans to pursue a master's in accounting, Raju says his President's Scholarship has "meant everything. The networking and contacts I've made, the retreats in New Mexico, graduating without debt - it's incredible."

Rachel Simpson, Carl and Peggy Sewell Endowed President's Scholar

For sophomore Rachel Simpson of Plano, the President's Scholars Program has meant a chance to create new opportunities. In three semesters, she has served on Student Senate and in the Catholic Campus Ministry, helped establish the SMU club tennis team and changed her life's path. Inspired by a comparative politics course, she changed her major from Spanish and physics to political science and foreign languages. "Now I'm thinking about law school or working in the State Department." Thanks to her scholarship, Simpson says, she's enjoyed opportunities to attend the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series and meet her sponsors, Peggy and Carl Sewell, the chair of SMU's Board of Trustees. "They're interested in everything we're doing."

A $1 million commitment from SMU Trustee Gerald J. Ford ('66, '69) in 2002 established competitive research awards to help the University retain and reward outstanding scholars. The Ford Early Career Research Fellowships provide at least $10,000 per year for two years to help young faculty members establish their research programs, while the Ford Research Fellowships provide summer stipends of $15,000 for up to four other faculty members.

"As a graduate of SMU and as a member of the Board of Trustees, I am well aware of the importance of faculty research, enabling professors to add new perspectives to their teaching and contribute new knowledge and solutions to the challenges of our society," Ford said when his gift was announced. Since then, 25 faculty members have been awarded fellowships.

To learn about supporting the Gerald J. Ford Research Fellowships, please contact Brad Cheves at 214-768-2666 or bcheves@smu.edu.

SMU Professors Push the Limits of Science

Researchers from more than 38 countries and 140 institutions, including SMU, are hard at work on a history-making science experiment below ground near Geneva, Switzerland. The Large Hadron Collider - popularly known as an atom-smasher - is the largest particle accelerator ever constructed and is now preparing for testing. When it becomes fully operational, scientists, including Robert Kehoe, Fred Olness, Jingbo Ye and Physics Chair Ryszard Stroynowski of SMU, will be able to re-create and record conditions at the origin of the universe.

As U.S. coordinator for the major portion of the ATLAS experiment, Stroynowski spent the summer in Switzerland helping to seal the final details on the largest detector in the LHC array. A Gerald J. Ford Research Fellowship allowed him to take 10 graduate students to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to conduct research with him.

"To my knowledge there is nothing else like the Ford Research Fellowship at SMU," Stroynowski says. "It is highly prized by the faculty, and it shows that the University cares about research. It's a great honor to have received it."

Stroynowski's students worked on everything from computer operator interfaces to data processing for 220,000 channels of electronic signals - an information stream larger than the Internet traffic of a small country. They also began preparing for analysis of the vast quantities of physics data the detectors will produce. "This is the kind of detail necessary to make the entire project work and stay on schedule," Stroynowski says.

To learn about supporting the Physics Department, please contact Courtney Corwin at 214-768-2691 or ccorwin@smu.edu.

A landmark $20 million gift from Harold C. and Annette C. Simmons will provide endowment for SMU's School of Education and Human Development and the lead gift for a new building to house the School. The School will be renamed the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development in honor of Mrs. Simmons, an elementary education graduate of SMU.

"Harold and Annette Simmons have demonstrated time and again their generosity and vision in meeting critical needs of our community, region and nation," said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. "As civic leaders who deeply value education as the foundation of human achievement, they will help us extend SMU???s leadership in education. This gift will be instrumental in further defining the scope and impact of these programs."

Announcement of the gift was made at a campus celebration November 9 attended by members of the University and Dallas communities, including local school officials, and SMU alumni on hand for Homecoming Weekend.

Although education programs have been a part of SMU's curriculum since the institution's early years, SMU renewed its commitment to this important field in 2005 by creating the School of Education and Human Development with specific areas of focus.

The School offers graduate-level and specialized programs to develop advanced skills for educators and strong research programs on how students learn and develop language skills. Specialized programs include those in literacy training, bilingual education, English as a second language, gifted student education and learning therapy. Also offered are programs for master educators to enhance teaching skills in disciplines such as science, technology, reading and mathematics. The School also offers a new Ph.D. in education focusing on literacy, language and learning; a Master of Education with teacher certification; and a Master of Bilingual Education. Research and service centers include the Institute for Reading Research, the Gifted Students Institute and the Diagnostic Center for Dyslexia and Related Disorders.

For undergraduates seeking teacher certification, SMU offers the dual benefit of in-depth education through academic majors in the arts and sciences, coupled with certification through the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

In the area of human development, the School offers Master's degrees in counseling, dispute resolution and liberal studies, along with wellness courses and non-credit enrichment classes.

"With our areas of focus, the Annette Caldwell Simmons School offers a unique combination of programs addressing some of the greatest challenges in educating our young people in a rapidly changing environment, and others focusing on needs such as resolving disputes in a civil society," said David J. Chard, dean of the Simmons School of Education and Human Development. "SMU has a rich history of educational leadership in disciplines critical to our region. Further development of our education programs will strengthen our important partnerships with local school districts and community agencies, and will make us increasingly competitive for external research funding with national implications."

The Simmons gift allocates $10 million toward construction of a new facility, to be named the Annette Caldwell Simmons Building; $5 million for graduate student fellowships; and $5 million for faculty support and an endowed deanship.

As the lead commitment for a new building on the SMU campus, the Simmons gift launches a campaign to complete funding for the facility, which will include classrooms, research laboratories and offices for the School's education programs.

The School's dispute resolution, counseling and selected other programs will remain in Plano at SMU-in-Legacy, giving the School a presence at both University locations.

In addition to support for the new building, the gift establishes two endowed funds named in honor of Harold Simmons' parents, both of whom were educators. His father, Leon Simmons, was superintendent of schools in Golden, Texas, and his mother, Fairess Simmons, was a teacher. The $5 million Fairess Simmons Graduate Fellowship Fund will provide a minimum of 10 graduate fellowships for students in the School's Master's and Ph.D. programs. The remaining $5 million will create the Leon Simmons Endowed Deanship and Faculty Recruitment Fund.

"I grew up in a home that valued education," Harold Simmons said. "My father and mother both were educators, and they sacrificed so that I could attend college. I've been able to use my education to become successful in business and to support important efforts that have an impact on other people's lives. I am pleased to support this innovative school at SMU, Annette's alma mater, and to name it in her honor. It will represent our shared commitment to support teachers likes the ones who made a difference in our own lives."

Harold Simmons is founder, chair and CEO of Contran Corporation, a holding company with interests including chemicals, metals, waste management and computer support systems. He earned B.A. and M.S. degrees in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Simmons' relationship with SMU began in 1961 when, in his late 20s, he borrowed money to buy a small drugstore on Hillcrest Avenue across from the SMU campus. The University Pharmacy and its lunch counter were popular shopping and eating spots for the campus community during the 1960s. Simmons built that store into a chain of 100 drugstores across Texas. In 1973 he sold the stores to Jack Eckerd, who further developed the chain as Eckerd Drugs. Simmons then launched his career as an investor, with Contran Corporation as his holding company.

Simmons is a former member of the executive boards of SMU's Edwin L. Cox School of Business and Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. His previous gifts to SMU include $1.8 million to establish the Simmons Distinguished Professorship in Marketing in the Cox School and $1.2 million for the President's Scholars program. His other charitable contributions have included major support for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Annette Simmons earned a B.S. degree in elementary education from SMU in 1957. She is a former member of the board of the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series. She has served on the boards of numerous civic organizations, including the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Parkland Foundation and National Kidney Foundation of Texas. Her community honors include the Crystal Charity Ball Hall of Fame Award and the Champ Award of the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance. Most recently, she is a recipient of the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas Centennial Award, recognizing 100 Dallas women who have made lasting civic contributions to Dallas within the 100 years of the organization's existence.

Harold and Annette Simmons together received the Southwestern Medical Foundation's Charles Cameron Sprague Community Service Award and the Annette G. Strauss Humanitarian Award.

As SMU prepares to celebrate its Centennial, the University is seeking increased resources for scholarships, faculty resources, academic programs and the campus experience. The Simmons gift provides major support toward those efforts.

The following is from the October 22, 2007 edition of The Dallas Morning News.

Cox gives SMU challenge funding

Robert Miller
Business Columnist
The Dallas Morning News

Dallas oilman Edwin L. Cox has given $5 million to support merit-based undergraduate scholarships at the school that bears his name - the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

The gift is a challenge grant to stimulate contributions toward the goal of a $10 million endowment fund for the Cox School's BBA Scholars Program.

Approximately 100 students are expected to enter the Edwin L. Cox BBA Scholars Program each year from across the United States and abroad.

Applicants will be required to have achieved outstanding high school academic records and high SAT/ACT scores while demonstrating strong leadership skills.

They also must submit essays and letters of recommendation.

"Ed Cox has supported SMU generously with his time, talents and resources for more than 50 years," said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. "It is characteristic that he would step up to fund one of the university's greatest priorities - the support of high-achieving students. We are grateful for his vision and generosity."

The BBA Scholars Program provides scholarships for highly qualified first-year students who express interest in business as a major.

SMU students typically concentrate on general education courses in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences during their first year, then declare and undertake their major in their sophomore year.

In addition to the general education courses required of all SMU students, these first-year student scholars participate in a special BBA Scholars Seminar.

There, presentations are made by faculty members from all departments of the Cox School to acquaint BBA Scholars with their choices of business majors, which include accounting; finance; information technology and operations management; management and organizations; marketing; real estate, insurance and business law; and strategy and entrepreneurship.

The first-year scholars also hear from academic advisers and career counselors who can help them with career planning.

In addition to merit scholarship aid, the scholars get individually tailored academic advice and career services, networking with Dallas business leaders and invitations to special events.

They continue to receive scholarship support throughout their academic experience at SMU.

"This generous endowment from Ed Cox will enable us to strengthen and expand the BBA Scholars Program," said Cox School Dean Albert W. Niemi Jr. "These exemplary students will contribute to the academic vitality of SMU and will become global business leaders in the future."

SMU's School of Business, established in 1920, was renamed in 1978 to recognize its major benefactor, Mr. Cox, who has served SMU in numerous capacities through the years, including as chairman of the board of trustees from 1967 to 1987. He was given SMU's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1974. He is chairman of the Edwin L. Cox Co., a holding company for his private investments, and has served on the boards of more than 50 business, education and social service institutions.

The SMU Board of Trustees passed a resolution Sept. 7 establishing steering committees for the University’s upcoming Centennial Campaign, another step in the preparation during the campaign’s quiet phase for a public kickoff in 2008.

“The success of the Centennial Campaign will directly result from the active involvement and leadership of volunteers,” the resolution states.

The campaign will raise funds primarily for endowments supporting student quality, faculty excellence, academic programs and the campus experience.

The Board authorized the Campaign Leadership Council to expand the base of volunteers by establishing steering committees for each of the seven SMU schools and Central University Libraries; for University-wide programs such as campus life and athletics; and for cities in Texas and throughout the nation. The Campaign Leadership Council is comprised of 14 trustees and SMU President R. Gerald Turner. It includes three trustees who served as co-chairs of the successful Campaign for SMU: A Time to Lead, which ended in 2002.

“We are fortunate to have the talents of experienced campaign leaders as well as new members who bring their special insights to our efforts. By the time we kick off the public phase in 2008, we expect to have hundreds of individuals serving as key volunteers on our various committees,” says Brad E. Cheves, Vice President for Development and External Affairs. Many have already made early gifts to the campaign to set the pace and level of giving for others to follow.

“The high level of interest we have seen to date indicates that our alumni, donors and other friends are ready and eager to support SMU’s rise in national prominence,” Turner says. “Our momentum is strong and growing.”

Bush Library Project

President R. Gerald Turner speaks to reporters about the site selection process.

Not long after President George W. Bush took office, SMU began researching presidential libraries, recognizing that such an asset on campus would provide valuable resources for research. Throughout the selection process, SMU President R. Gerald Turner has emphasized that the library would be an opportunity to house the history of an era.

“In preserving and sharing documents and artifacts, the Bush Presidential Library at SMU would be a tremendous resource for the study of presidential decision-making in this post 9-11 world,”Turner says.

“Having the unique resources of a presidential library on campus would be a great benefit as we focus on attracting resources to increase our national competitiveness for the best students and faculty, enhance research productivity and enrich the campus experience.”

Presidential libraries and museums are funded by private donations and then operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Selection Committee has indicated that the Bush Library complex would include an institute operated by the private Bush Foundation.

“No matter one’s political affiliation, the library would offer SMU students opportunities for a unique educational experience, says Carl Sewell (’66), chair of SMU’s Board of Trustees. “If SMU is chosen as the site, the University would become even more of a resource for learning, and the library would strengthen Dallas as an important global destination.”

New Crum Basketball Center

Rising next to Moody Coliseum is a major new practice facility for the SMU men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Gary T. (’69) and Sylvie P. Crum

The $13-million, 43,000-square-foot Crum Basketball Center will give the Mustangs basketball and volleyball teams dramatically more space and flexibility for practice and training. The facility is named for Sylvie P. and Gary T. Crum (’69), who provided the leadership gift to establish the center.

Opportunities for students to compete using resources like the Crum Center are an important part of a vibrant campus experience at SMU. The coaches see it as an important recruiting tool as well.

“The Crum Basketball Center will allow us to attract and develop the very best student-athletes from across the country and help return Mustang basketball to national prominence,” says Matt Doherty, SMU head men’s basketball coach.

Rhonda Rompola (’83), SMU head women’s basketball coach says, “The strong commitment SMU has made to basketball will be evident in this new facility.

The Crum Basketball Center will include two full-size practice courts, players’ locker rooms and lounges, a fully-equipped training and rehabilitation room with in-ground hydrotherapy pools, a strength and condition room, coaches’ offices and film editing rooms. The center will be linked to Moody Coliseum by a tunnel.

Gary Crum currently serves on SMU’s Board of Trustees, the Cox School of Business Executive Board, the advisory councils of the McCombs School of Business and the MBA Investment Fund at the University of Texas at Austin.

Sylvie Crum, in addition to her substantial community involvement, is a Regent’s representative on the Intercollegiate Athletic Council for Women and a member of the Longhorn Foundation Advisory Council at the University of Texas.

Other Crum contributions to SMU include Crum Auditorium in the Cox School of Business’ Collins Executive Education Center.

If you would like information about this project, please contact Craig Shaver at 214-768-3639 or cshaver@smu.edu.

Hegi Family Career Development Center

Rose Ibrahim needed a job. What she got was an inside track to finding a career. Like nearly 18 percent of current SMU students, Ibrahim helped finance her University education with work-study jobs. As a first-year student, she landed a job with the Hegi Family Career Development Center.

To help students realize their career goals, Jan (‘66) and Fred Hegi (‘66) endowed the Hegi Family Career Development Center. Fred Hegi is a member of the SMU Board of Trustees.

“I maintained the Web site, so I got really familiar with the job postings and the recruiting process from the inside,” says Ibrahim, who graduated in 2006. “Otherwise, I might not have known how much the center can offer students.”

Ibrahim found work as a credit analyst with Citibank through the Hegi Career Center home page. The site allows students to send their résumés to companies that schedule campus recruiting visits. She lined up a couple of interviews a week through the center’s online process; campus recruiting events such as “Resumania” helped make that possible, she adds.

“There’s no other way I could have done two interviews a week, with two majors and with everything seniors have to do during that last year,” says Ibrahim, who holds degrees in finance and journalism and also got a junior-year internship with Smith Barney through the center. “The campus career fairs made it convenient.”

The Hegi Career Center – the vision of Jan (’66) and Fred Hegi (’66) – offers help ranging from career planning to job search tools to interview counseling for both students and alumni, in addition to holding recruiting events and free job listings for employers. Its programs receive support from additional donors, including Dallas real estate magnate Ebby Halliday, who created an endowed fund in honor of her late husband, Maurice Acers, a 1929 SMU political science graduate who maintained a lifelong interest in the University’s students.

Troy Behrens, executive director of the Hegi Family Career Development Center, advises students during an on-campus career fair.

Endowment gifts not only help to sustain these services, but also to get new ones off the ground, says Troy Behrens, the Hegi Career Center’s executive director. “Research will tell you that the average career center has between 50 cents and one dollar per student in its operating budget,” he says. “That’s about enough to buy construction paper and binder clips. When an endowment comes in, it provides the creative resources that students need to get and keep a job.”

If you would like to make a contribution to this project, please contact Bonner Allen at 214-7681741 or bonnera@smu.edu.

Momentum Builds to Increase Campus Support

SMU is well on its way in planning its next major gifts campaign, with a public launch scheduled for 2008.

The new campaign will focus on endowments for student scholarships, faculty positions, academic programs and the overall campus experience. In January 2006 the Board of Trustees created a volunteer Campaign Leadership Council (CLC) composed of co-chairs from the previous campaign and other trustee leaders. With former Board Chair Gerald J. Ford ('66, '69) serving as Convening Chair, Council leadership includes current Board Chair Carl Sewell ('66); Ruth Altshuler ('48); Ray L. Hunt ('65); and Caren H. Prothro.

Altshuler, Hunt and Prothro were among the five co-chairs of the successful "A Time to Lead" Campaign that concluded in 2002. Other members of the new CLC are trustees Michael M. Boone ('63, '67); Gary T. Crum ('69); Linda Pitts Custard ('60, '99); Robert H. Dedman Jr. ('80, '84); Milledge A. Hart, III; Gene C. Jones; Jeanne L. Phillips ('76); John C. Tolleson ('70) and Richard Ware ('68). SMU President R. Gerald Turner serves as an ex-officio member.

"The Campaign Leadership Council represents the important core group that will set the pace of giving and involvement for others," says Brad Cheves, vice president for Development and External Affairs.

The CLC will eventually oversee a larger campaign volunteer organization consisting of about 50 members and including chairs for school campaigns, Central University Libraries, athletics, and regional efforts, among others.

Early gifts to the campaign have ranged from new endowments for professorships and scholarships to support for enhanced academic programs and facilities. These and other new gifts will be announced in upcoming issues of Vision SMU.

"Excitement is very high about where this campaign can bring SMU in terms of academic quality and reputation, and momentum for the effort is building,"Turner says.

Alumni Leaders Listen and Act

With the help of several alumni leaders, SMU is aiming to give alumni broader opportunities for involvement and giving to support the University's rise in national prominence, according to Connie Blass O'Neill ('77), 2007-2009 Alumni Board Chair. Feedback from focus groups has prompted the creation of four new committees and chairs: Campus Outreach (chaired by Jennifer Cronin '94), Travel and Education (Andrea Zafer '88), Regional Outreach (Bill Vanderstraaten '82), and Networking (Stewart Henderson '81.)

Connie O'Neill ('77)

"We want to offer quality programs our alumni want to be involved in and we want that sense of family. Our constituency is very broad-based in age and interests," says O'Neill, who will serve as chair for two years. The Board wants to engage alumni from all walks of life, including the non-profit and business worlds, the arts, public service, ministry and high tech fields, to name a few.

The 34-member Board represents a diverse cross-section of graduates, who range from the Class of 1957 to 2006 and live across the nation as well as in the Dallas area.

One of SMU's goals is to double the alumni giving rate to 30 percent over the next several years, according to Marcus Malonson ('93), immediate past chair. "At great institutions such as Harvard and Yale, the percentage of their alumni who give back to them is well above the national average," he says, adding that alumni giving rates can impact both college rankings and support from foundations.

Marcus Malonson ('93)

Making alumni and their families feel welcome on campus is a major objective. One way is through the Boulevard, offering pre-game festivities each football Saturday at home. Popular Dallas restaurants are sponsoring free food at the alumni tent. "After-parties" are being held for young alumni at regional University events. A Legacy reception was held for graduating seniors and their alumni parents at graduation. And alumni now have a home base in the recently remodeled Faculty Club on Daniel Avenue, where they are encouraged to join the club and connect to academic life through a faculty luncheon series and special themed dinners. Another new program is the SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute, offering weekend courses each July with distinguished University faculty.

SMU is welcoming to the Hilltop new leaders over academics, student affairs and business/finance.

Paul W. Ludden, former dean of the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley, and a scholar in environmental biochemistry, arrived this summer to become SMU's provost and vice president for academic affairs.

As the University's chief academic officer, he oversees all aspects of academic life, from admissions and faculty development to supervision of SMU's seven schools, library system and international programs.

At UC Berkeley, Ludden served as a faculty member at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and represented the university on several environmental science groups and in the University-Industry Consortium.

Lori S. White, who has held student affairs positions at the University of Southern California, Stanford University and Georgetown University, is the new vice president for student affairs.

White is responsible for student life programs including residence halls; student activities such as women's, multicultural, volunteer and leadership programs; judicial affairs; campus ministries; health and wellness programs; career services; the Hughes-Trigg Student Center and Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports. She also will have an adjunct faculty appointment in SMU's School of Education and Human Development.

Christine Casey, a University of California administrator known for her skill in improving business processes, has been named vice president for business and finance after a nationwide search. She joined SMU this fall after leaving her post as assistant vice president for administrative services for the University of California system.

"These appointments come at an important moment in SMU's history," President R. Gerald Turner says. "Paul, Lori and Christine will each be a great asset for SMU as we seek to increase support for students, faculty, academic programs and the unique campus experience."

While student tuition and fees support many faculty positions, SMU’s more than 60 endowed chairs receive permanent funding for significant academic research and travel opportunities, such as the four profiled below. The University seeks to increase its number of substantially endowed positions.

David Weber
Robert and Nancy Dedman Professor of History and
Director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies
in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Weber has been elected to the 2007 Class of Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Weber, who specializes in the American Southwest and Mexico, is author or editor of more than 22 books and 60 scholarly articles.

The governments of Spain and Mexico have given him the highest honor they bestow on foreigners: membership in the Real Orden de Isabel la Católica, the Spanish equivalent of a knighthood, and the Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca (the Order of the Aztec Eagle).

Patricia Mathes
Texas Instruments Endowed Professor in Reading Research and Director of SMU’s Institute for Reading Research, School of Education and Human Development

Reading is the most important skill for success in learning and life. Mathes’ research is proving that early intervention is key to correcting reading problems.

With an emphasis on intensive small-group instruction, Mathes has discovered reading solutions that work for all children, including the mentally challenged. Her research is funded from multiple sources, including the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

Wayne Shaw
Helmut Sohmen Distinguished Professor of Corporate Governance in the Cox School of Business

Shaw is an expert on capital formation, financial disclosure and reporting, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and taxation. He has developed a mathematical win/loss model for IPOs and has served as an expert witness for the Securities and Exchange Commission and various law firms.

He also serves as Director of the KPMG Institute for Corporate Governance, which focuses on the importance of corporate structure and communication channels in business organizations.

Daniel Shuman
M.D. Anderson Foundation Endowed Professor of Health Law in the Dedman School of Law

An expert in forensic psychology and insanity defense, Shuman is also an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of North Texas. The author of eight books and more than 60 scholarly articles, he is a member of the American Law Institute.

Perkins Theology Expands Quadrangle

The new Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Hall, shown at far left in this rendering, will substantially increase classroom and office space for the Perkins School of Theology.

A gift this year from the Prothro family of Wichita Falls and the Perkins-Prothro Foundation will launch a building program for Perkins School of Theology that will provide students with new learning facilities and spaces to share with the community.

William B. Lawrence, dean of Perkins School of Theology, says the $6 million commitment from the Perkins-Prothro Foundation and Elizabeth Perkins Prothro ('39) "will help Perkins School of Theology and SMU provide the finest facilities possible for preparing women and men with the learning and experience that they need to serve faithfully in the 21st century."

The expansion is made possible in part by nearly 300 supporters, including a challenge grant by the Texas Methodist Foundation to match all gifts up to $1 million through the generosity of an anonymous donor. Plans include extensive renovation of two 1950s-era classroom and office buildings and construction of a new 20,000-square-foot facility. The new building, which will be named in honor of Elizabeth Perkins Prothro, will house a 2,000-squarefoot auditorium for public events, plus spaces for dining services, a student computer lab, a dedicated student commons, preaching lab, classrooms, seminar rooms and lecture halls.

Prothro is the daughter of the late Joe J. and Lois Perkins, who endowed the SMU Theology School in the early 1940s. Including the new $6 million gift, the Perkins and Prothro families and their foundations have given more than $36.3 million to SMU since the first gift from Joe and Lois Perkins in 1913, two years before the University opened.

If you would like information about this project, please contact Dorothy Botnick at 214-768-2013 or dbotnick@smu.edu.

O’Neil Chair in Business Journalism

The editor-in-chief of the nation’s hottest business magazine has chosen SMU as his next career move.

As a chief decision-maker for Fast Company, Mark Vamos spearheaded the redesign and relaunch of the innovative monthly in 2003. Now Vamos, a former senior editor of both Newsweek and BusinessWeek, has been appointed the William J. O’Neil Chair in Business Journalism and senior lecturer in Meadows School of the Arts. He arrived in August with the beginning of the fall term.

Mark Vamos, former editor of Fast Company magazine, brings new expertise in business journalism to students in Meadows School of the Arts and Cox School of Business.

The O’Neil Chair is part of a new cooperative program in financial reporting developed by the Meadows School Division of Journalism and Cox School of Business through funding from William J. O’Neil (’55) of Santa Monica, Calif., an SMU alumnus and chairman and CEO of Investor’s Business Daily. In addition to teaching business journalism and media management, Vamos will coordinate the Meadows and Cox programs, as well as the ongoing William J. O’Neil Lecture Series in Business Journalism, a program that each semester brings outstanding business journalism professionals to the SMU campus.

"Mark Vamos is a highly experienced business journalist with an outstanding background, and he is a major addition to the Division of Journalism and the emphasis in business journalism," says O’Neil. "I believe the program will be off to an excellent start."

The business journalism program was envisioned as an interdisciplinary one, as it will expand to include curriculum and an endowed faculty chair in Cox School of Business. In the Cox segment of the program, business journalism students will focus on the rigors and ever-changing demands of financial reporting. Meadows will offer a concentration in business journalism for its students, as well as journalism courses for business students.

"Mark Vamos is a wonderful addition to our faculty," says Meadows Dean José Bowen. "He brings a wealth of real-world experience, and he exemplifies how collaboration between Meadows and Cox will allow both of us to lead in new areas. Business journalism is just what it sounds like: Students will take courses in both Meadows and Cox and will leave SMU with the professional skills of both."

SMU's School of Engineering had ambitious designs for its new building: create a working laboratory designed for sustainability and efficiency.

The J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building is the first university building in Texas built for gold-level environmental and energy certification, also known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The building was dedicated in September 2006.

Sam Barraco, a 2006 environmental engineering graduate, was assigned as an SMU senior to research sustainable and energy-efficient design for the new J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering building.

"I feel proud that SMU has joined the LEED program," Barraco says. "Learning about LEED certification was very valuable." Now employed by the Water Resources Planning group at Turner Collie and Braden, Barraco now has an opportunity to put this unique education to use on local projects with environmental impact.

Located in SMU's new East Quad, at SMU Boulevard and Airline Road, the new Embrey Engineering Building houses the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Environmental and Civil Engineering Department in SMU's School of Engineering. A virtual living laboratory, the Embrey Engineering Building provides real-time exposure to a vast array of challenging conservation issues, such as controlling water and energy usage. Additionally, the innovative design replaces typically small, individualized areas with large, open spaces for collaborative study.

The building was funded primarily by a lead gift from the late J. Lindsay Embrey and his widow, Bobbie. Mr. Embrey, who died in 2005, received two degrees from SMU – a B.S. in civil engineering in 1945 and a B.B.A. in 1947 and served the University in many capacities for decades.

The Embrey Building project also received a highly competitive grant of $850,000 from the Kresge Foundation of Troy, Michigan. The support of more than 500 SMU alumni and friends proved to be a critical factor in securing the Kresge grant.

"These donations have opened new doors for the next generation of engineering students at SMU," says Geoffrey Orsak, dean of the School of Engineering. "This unique and special building facilitates important learning and research through first-hand experience with new, state-of-the-art laboratories and collaborative work environments."

The 56,700-square-foot building contains classrooms, laboratories, research facilities and faculty offices. It includes more than 30 miles of data wiring, two distinct water systems, and the latest in high-tech research equipment.

Key energy-saving and sustainability features include:

• Lighting systems linked to motion detectors
• Heat-reflective building materials
• Rainwater recapture
• Low water usage equipment
• Low VOC paints
• Floor covering for healthy indoor air quality
• Use of a myriad of natural rock and stone surfaces
• Drought-resistant landscape Heat-reflective hardscape surrounding the building

The ultra-efficient Embrey Engineering Building contains high-tech labs inside a structure that reflects SMU's Collegiate Georgian architecture.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings account for 39 percent of the nation's energy consumption. Universities, with their large physical plants including lecture halls and laboratories, require a great deal of energy to operate.

To reduce energy costs while lessening the impact on the environment, SMU built the Embrey Building to meet standards for LEED certification at the gold level. The building will save the University an estimated 30 percent in energy, water, and maintenance costs annually in comparison with a non-LEED building.

To comply with LEED standards, nearly all of the building materials came from within a 500-mile radius of SMU, and more than 75 percent of the construction waste was recycled rather than ending up in a landfill.

The LEED Green Building Rating System® is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings that are certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Clements Center for Southwest Studies

Former Texas Governor Bill Clements (‘39) (center), founder of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, celebrated the Center’s 10th anniversary with Brad Cheves (left), Vice President for Development and External Affairs at SMU, and George Bayoud, Chair of the Center’s advisory panel.

In 1846, British army officer George Ruxton explored northern Mexico in search of evidence of Comanche raids. He found deserted and burned homes, human bones and an eerie silence.

The Comanche and Kiowa raids on northern Mexico from 1830 to 1850 constituted a period of violence that destroyed the region’s economy and left Mexico ill prepared for the U.S.-Mexican War.

The result? U.S. victory and a treaty by which the United States acquired much of the American Southwest, including New Mexico and California.

That’s according to historian Brian DeLay, a 2005-06 fellow of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies in SMU’s Dedman College.

The Center – which sponsors graduate studies about the United States’ Southwestern borderlands – embodies the vision of former Texas Governor Bill Clements (’39), who has a passion for the region and one of the largest libraries of Southwest literature.

The Center and a related Ph.D. program were created as part of a $10 million endowment gift from Governor Clements that also endowed the Department of History in SMU’s Dedman College.

Support from the Bill and Rita Clements Research Fellowships for the Study of Southwestern America allowed DeLay to spend a year strengthening his manuscript, “The War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Politics in the Age of the U.S.-Mexican War,” which is now under contract with Yale University Press.

The book will “make historians in both Mexico and the United States think differently about the coming of the U.S.-Mexican War,” says David Weber, director of the Clements Center and the Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Professor of History.

The Clements Center offers four residential postdoctoral research fellowships each year to enable scholars to bring book-length manuscripts to completion. “A year at the Center gives scholars a rare reprieve from teaching and committee work to charge their intellectual batteries and either complete a major work of scholarship or advance it significantly,” Weber says. “ Since scholars can work without interruption in an intellectually stimulating environment, the books that result are better than they would have been without these fellowships.” Nearly 30 historians have completed their fellowships at the Clements Center since the program began in 1996.

A number of SMU graduates have won prestigious national fellowships in recent years, including Fulbright, Marshall and Gilman awards. A new campus office is connecting more students and faculty with these competitions and boosting that number.

"These fellowships provide extraordinary opportunities for students to develop more expertise and experience in their fields," says Kathleen Hugley-Cook, director of the Office of National Fellowships and Awards.

Hugley-Cook's office identifies and mentors candidates and holds workshops where they learn to develop competitive applications reflecting academic work, extracurricular experiences and career plans. "Graduate and professional programs, as well as future employers, look with great favor on these prestigious fellowships," says Hugley-Cook.

These efforts have resulted in several recent awards:

Denver Nicks, a 2007 graduate and Hunt Leadership Scholar from Tulsa, who majored in political science and international studies, won a Fulbright grant, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, to study representative government at the University of the Philippines. He is examining how the Philippines' 1987 constitution, which ensures seats for women, indigenous peoples and other historically underrepresented sectors, has affected political participation. At SMU, Nicks served as president of the SMU Democrats and founded the Committee on Darfur.

Jaclyn M. Durr, a 2007 graduate from Barrington, Ill. who majored in international studies and German, was awarded a Fulbright to serve as an English teaching assistant in a German secondary school in the state of Thuringia. In addition to helping teach English, she will be sharing American culture with the students while preparing for a graduate degree in political economy.

"You have to know the history of each European Union member state to understand what's going on there today and to even try to predict how they will integrate and interact with the global community in the future," says Durr, who also received a 2007 "M" Award for service to the University.

Rebekah Hurt, a 2006 graduate and President's Scholar from Dallas, who majored in English, is studying African literature and postcolonial critical theory at the University of Birmingham in England as SMU's first Marshall Scholar. Funded by an act of British Parliament in 1953, Marshall Scholarships are awarded to only 40 talented Americans annually to study for two to three years in the United Kingdom.

As an undergraduate, Hurt received a Richter International Fellowship to conduct independent research on literature and publishing in Ghana. She also received national honors for creative writing and community service.

Levine Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies

Serge Frolov finds students are often surprised by the relevance of the Hebrew Bible. “The Old Testament addresses issues such as minorities, relationships between men and women, social justice and science,” says Frolov, who holds the Nate and Ann Levine Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies.

Serge Frolov, the Nate and Ann Levine Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies, with a 19th-century Torah Scroll recovered in Czechoslovakia following World War II, courtesy of the Thomas J. Harrison Collection in SMU’s Bridwell Library.

Frolov had a similar reaction to the Old Testament when he was a student. He was born in the Soviet Union at a time when religion was barely tolerated, he says. When his family fled Russia for Israel in 1990 along with 200,000 other Jews, he became immersed in his religion.

“The first time I read the Hebrew Bible I was fascinated with its approach to life and human purpose,” Frolov says.

The endowed faculty position – meaning it includes funding for research, travel and other opportunities – brings into focus the most relevant issues in modern cultural discussions.

Frolov’s courses present the Bible from a historical perspective, says Nate Levine, who occasionally visits class as an observer. “He creates an interesting dialogue.”

“The first time I read the Hebrew Bible I was fascinated with its approach to life and human purpose.” – Serge Frolov

Nate and Ann Levine of Dallas created and funded Frolov’s position to provide a scholarly Jewish resource to SMU and the Dallas Jewish community. Frolov teaches a weekly Bible study at the Jewish Community Center and often lectures to groups both on and off campus. The Levines provided a gift of $1.25 million to establish the endowed position as well as an endowed lecture series.

Frolov earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in modern history from Leningrad University, and then taught at the Open University of Israel before earning his M.A. and Ph.D. in religion from Claremont Graduate University. Maria Renna (’07) says she was a novice on the Old Testament before taking Frolov’s class, “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible.”

“Because Dr. Frolov lived in Israel, he knows the culture, the language and the geography,” Renna says. “He makes you feel the entire experience.”

A Hunt Leadership Scholarship allowed Rachel Ball ('06), an Indian studies major, to study abroad in Paris, Australia and Southeast Asia. "Living abroad is a life-altering experience," she says.

Hunt Leadership Scholars Program

When Rachel Ball ('06) left her hometown of White Settlement, Texas, for Dallas to attend SMU, she began a journey that would take her to three continents and open her mind to a world much larger than her small North Texas town.

She saw desperate poverty on the streets of India and was awed by the temples of Angkor in Cambodia. At SMU she worked with professors to create a rigorous individualized major in Indian studies, then graduated among the top 1 percent of the class of 2006.

The first member of her close-knit family to attend college, Ball seized every opportunity she could as a recipient of the Hunt Leadership Scholarship.

"My world was very small when I came to SMU," she says. "The Hunt Leadership Scholars Program allowed me to study abroad in Paris, Southeast Asia and Australia. Living abroad is a life-altering experience. One becomes a different person and, I believe, a better person."

At SMU, Ball helped lead organizations that reflected her passions. She was president of the SMU chapter of Amnesty International and secretary of the Indian Student Association. She chaired the Student Senate Diversity Committee, and as student representative to the Board of Trustees Committee on Student Affairs, she helped develop presentations on campus ethnic and religious diversity.

"The great thing about college is exploring other cultures,"says Ball, a fourth-generation Texan who is now studying South Asian history in the Ph.D. program at Boston College.

"As time passes and you look back upon the years that you spent on this campus, you will find that, while you were here, you developed some of your closest enduring friendships, realized some of the more important truths that subsequently fashioned your life, and refined many of the skills which, hopefully, will allow you to compete successfully in the rapidly changing world in which you will live." – Ray L. Hunt ('65)

Ball is one of more than 250 students who have been awarded the Hunt Leadership Scholarship since 1993, when Nancy Ann ('65) and Ray L. Hunt ('65) established the program to recruit and foster students who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership, academic achievement and a strong sense of social responsibility. The scholarships cover tuition less the amount of resident tuition of the leading public university in the student's home state, plus costs associated with education abroad.

Beyond financial support, Hunt Leadership Scholars are given the opportunity to learn from local and international leaders, including speakers of the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series. They also develop leadership skills by participating in campus and community service activities.

"This program has meant opportunities that I never would have had, knowing people I never would have known and realizing the potential that I never knew I possessed,"says Ball.