Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Archives - Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Klaus Desmet and Elfi Kraka named 2018 Ford Research Fellows

FORUM Originally Posted: May 31, 2018 Four outstanding SMU scholars named 2018 Ford Research Fellows Four SMU professors received 2018 Ford Research Fellowships during the University’s Board of Trustees Meeting in May. Pictured left to right: SMU President R. Gerald Turner, Adam Herring, Klaus Desmet, Elfi Kraka, MinJun Kim, and SMU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Steven C. Currall. Photo credit: SMU | Allison Slomowitz Four distinguished SMU professors were honored for their scholarship as 2018 Ford Research Fellows. The awards were presented during the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, May 8. This year’s recipients are Klaus Desmet, Economics, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences; Adam Herring, Art History, Meadows School of the Arts; MinJun Kim, Mechanical Engineering, Lyle School of Engineering; and Elfi Kraka, Chemistry, Dedman College of Humanities and [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-21T10:24:47+00:00 June 21st, 2018|Chemistry, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Economics|Comments Off

Sheri Kunovich, Chair of the Department of Sociology, will assume role of Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success beginning July 2018

SMU News Originally Posted: June 20, 2018 Congratulations to Sheri Kunovich, Chair of the Department of Sociology! She will join the Provost Office’s team on 9 July 2018 in the newly-titled role of Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success. Read the full letter from Steven C. Currall, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs HERE

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-20T09:25:29+00:00 June 20th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Sociology, Sociology (Faculty)|Comments Off

Businesses looking for perceptive thinkers are looking for philosophy majors

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: June 19, 2018 Last month, a philosophy major from the University of Dallas carried his diploma straight from academia to a job in investment banking. He got this job not despite his degree, but because of it. A firm that manages trillions of dollars in assets contacted UD's career office seeking a liberal arts major. During the Republican presidential debates in 2015, Marco Rubio told America that "we need more welders and less philosophers." But if that's so, why would a major investment bank view a degree in the liberal arts, and in philosophy in particular, as an asset rather than a liability? One explanation comes from Wall Street investor Bill Miller, who in January gave $75 million to the philosophy [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-20T07:51:07+00:00 June 20th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Philosophy|Comments Off

CPH Postdoctoral Fellow Paul Renfro offers historical perspective on the crisis at the border for the Washington Post

Washington Post Originally Posted: June 19, 2019 The real reason we’re locking children in cages We don't think nonwhite children deserve the same protections as “innocent” white ones. By Paul M. Renfro. Renfro is a postdoctoral fellow at Southern Methodist University, and beginning in August 2018, he will be a Dean’s Postdoctoral Scholar in the department of history at Florida State University. Americans are horrified by images and stories coming from the southern border. The U.S. government is brutalizing children and families — keeping children in cages, separated from their parents — purportedly in the name of border security. As outrage has increased, the spotlight has heated up, spurring politicians to speak out and contemplate action. As shocking and aberrant as this saga might seem — [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-19T10:39:43+00:00 June 19th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Graduate News, History|Comments Off

New Board officers begin one-year term

SMU News Originally Posted: June 1, 2018 The Board’s new ex officio faculty representative is Faculty Senate President Dayna Oscherwitz, French area chair in the Department of World Languages and Literatures, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. Congratulations! Three new officers and three new trustees were named to SMU’s Board of Trustees during the board’s spring meeting May 4, 2018. The Board also passed a resolution to honor two former members as trustees emeriti. Robert H. Dedman, Jr. ’80, ’84 has been elected as chair, David B. Miller ’72, ’73 was elected as vice-chair, and Kelly Hoglund Compton ’79 was elected as secretary. Officers are elected for one-year terms and are eligible for re-election up to four consecutive terms in any respective office. The new officers will begin [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-18T11:05:52+00:00 June 19th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Faculty News, World Languages and Literatures|Comments Off

Congratulations to the Class of 2018, our newest alumni!

SMU Magazine Originally Posted: June 2018 At the all-University Commencement ceremony on May 19, featured speaker Randall L. Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T, challenged members of the Class of 2018 to “make every effort not to live your life in a straight line.” The day was filled with hugs, laughter and pony ears as the new graduates looked back on their four exciting years on the Hilltop and forward to their futures as world changers. Since rising to the position of CEO in 2007, Stephenson has guided AT&T through a number of major milestones, including the ongoing acquisition of Time Warner, the 2015 acquisition of DIRECTV, and the purchase of Mexican wireless companies to create a North American network. Stephenson also has led AT&T’s [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-18T11:00:28+00:00 June 18th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Events|Comments Off

Paleobotanist Bonnie Jacobs Elected Fellow of Paleontological Society

Dedman College News Originally posted: June 15, 2018 Paleobotanist and Professor in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences Bonnie Jacobs has been named a Paleontological Society Fellow for her contributions to the field of Cenozoic paleobotany as well as her stellar mentorship of students and postdoctoral researchers. She was particularly lauded for her transformative research on the Cenozoic vegetation and climate of Africa. “The research I am working on with colleagues and students is aimed at understanding how tropical ecosystems in Africa came to be what they are today, and more specifically, how they were impacted in the past by global climate changes, first and foremost,” explains Dr. Jacobs. “I am always thrilled by the discovery of new fossils, but the most joyful, [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-15T11:38:03+00:00 June 15th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Earth Sciences, Faculty News|Comments Off

Brian Franklin, History, pens article for Washington Post on the historic perils of pastors courting politicians

Washington Post Originally Posted: June 15, 2018 Evangelicals need less politicking, more soul-searching Partisan politics are costing evangelical churches their souls. Brian Franklin works at Southern Methodist University, where he is the associate director of the Center for Presidential History and adjunct lecturer in the department of history. The Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in Dallas this week. The two-day conference featured religious speakers from across the country, but the two that elicited the largest response were not pastors but politicians: Vice President Pence and Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.). Both Abbott and Pence used their time to their political advantage. Abbott began Tuesday morning with stories of faith and service, only to transition to culture-wars rhetoric: an invective against the secularist “onslaught against religious liberty” by “sacrilegious” [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-15T10:37:22+00:00 June 15th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, History|Comments Off

In conversation series, two Mexican-Americans compare what made them the leaders they are today

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: June 13, 2018 What does it mean to live in the hyphen? Two Mexican-Americans spent an hour Monday night tackling the question in the second round of “Duets,” the quarterly event series hosted by the Arts & Life team of The Dallas Morning News. Alfredo Corchado, Mexico Border correspondent for The Dallas Morning News, was joined by Luisa del Rosal, executive director of Southern Methodist University's Tower Center for Political Studies, to talk about his new book, “Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration,” and about living life as both Mexicans and Americans. Corchado and del Rosal’s own histories exemplify why a term like Mexican-American doesn’t tell you much on its own. Born in [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-14T08:50:29+00:00 June 14th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, Political Science, Tower Center|Comments Off

New Bush-SMU institute hopes to become globally recognized source of economic policy ideas

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: June 12, 2018 This article was written by Matthew Rooney, managing director and Cullum Clark, director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative. North Texas has one of the most successful regional economies in the U.S. Over the past three decades, Dallas has grown faster, exported more and added more jobs than nearly any other part of the country. It has attracted people from all over the world to live, work and invest here. But Dallas has not generally been a place where national or international economic policy is made. Until now. The George W. Bush Institute and Southern Methodist University recently launched the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative. This partnership is not unique — a number of the most influential and effective policy centers [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-13T08:19:41+00:00 June 13th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Economics, Events, Faculty News|Comments Off