Dedman College Research – Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Is Virginia’s Move to Abolish the Beginning of the End of the Death Penalty in America?

History News Network by Rick Halperin Rick Halperin is director of the Human Rights Program at SMU Dallas He writes frequently on death penalty policy at the state and federal level. Given all the crises the nation has been dealing with in the last year, it is easy to overlook a major human rights accomplishment and advancement that is occurring right before us. The impending abolition of the death penalty in Virginia is indeed an historic moment in this country’s human rights history. It continues a long trend over several decades in which numerous states throughout the country reached similar conclusions to end the barbaric practice of state-sanctioned executions. Of course, as a Southern state and the former capital of the Confederacy, Virginia’s move is all the more noteworthy. I [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-03-01T12:44:30-08:00 March 1st, 2021|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Embrey Human Rights Events, Faculty News|Comments Off

SMU’s Dallas Literary Festival Goes Virtual

Park Cities People Originally Posted: Feb. 23, 2021 The theme of the Dallas Literary Festival, hosted by SMU, is a fitting one for the times — turbulence. The free, virtual program will be from March 26-28. For the full schedule and to register, visit dallasliteraryfestival.org. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. March 26, with Alice Johnson, author of After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom in a keynote conversation with Mitchell Jackson, author of Survival Math. March 27-28 will be devoted to panels, readings and author interviews featuring New York Timescolumnist and author of The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto Charles M. Blow, the first Native American Poet Laureate of the U.S. and author of the memoir Crazy Brave Joy Harjo, Pulitzer [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-24T08:07:50-08:00 February 24th, 2021|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, English, Events, Faculty News|Comments Off

Math Professor Receives CAREER NSF Award

Dedman College News Originally Posted: February 23, 2021 Grant project will involve students from all academic levels in wave turbulence research Dallas, TX -- Minh-Binh Tran, an assistant professor in the SMU Department of Mathematics recently received an NSF CAREER award. The grant is one of the National Science Foundation's most prestigious in support of early-career faculty who “have potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.” Tran’s NSF project will focus on wave turbulence and tackle challenges in the theory of nonlinear waves through the study of the associated wave turbulence theory. K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students will participate in research through youth conferences, summer school, relevant graduate courses and [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-23T08:55:14-08:00 February 23rd, 2021|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, Mathematics|Comments Off

Strange at home: an interview with Greg Brownderville

Vol. 1 Brooklyn Originally Posted: Feb. 19, 2021 A Lebanese-American ferry pilot. A Chinese-American grocer. A Midwestern-born misfit with a gift for gab. A self-styled provocateur and his salon of associates. They are among the many small-town eccentrics you meet in Fire Bones, a new multimedia series from the mind of poet Greg Brownderville. He describes the format of the series as “the world’s first-ever go-show.” Part film, part podcast, part musical performance, it’s a daring, genre-defying work of fiction designed specifically for your smartphone. If all this sounds overly conceptual, the story itself is anything but. Imagine a formally inventive take on Twin Peaks or True Detective, and you start to get the picture. Fire Bones sends poet Greg Brownderville and filmmaker Bart Weiss—or [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-19T13:45:44-08:00 February 19th, 2021|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, English, Faculty News|Comments Off

POSTPONED Voices of SMU Oral History Project: Learning from Alumni of Color in partnership with OSCIE/DCII

Due to the inclement weather, the Voices of SMU Oral History project event scheduled for February 22 has been postponed. We will reach out soon with a new date! Event Date: Feb. 22, 2021 at 4pm Register: https://smu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G6fP4fs9TKCAsEwJYXoRag

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-18T14:32:16-08:00 February 18th, 2021|DCII, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Events, Faculty News, History|Comments Off

Five Dedman College faculty members receive 2021 Sam Taylor Fellowship awards

Dedman College News Originally Posted: Feb. 12, 2021 Each year, the United Methodist Church’s Division of Higher Education and Ministry grants Sam Taylor Fellowship Awards to support faculty research that advances the intellectual and social life of our global society. Following a highly competitive selection process, the Sam Taylor Fellowship review committee is pleased to announce the 2020-2021 SMU faculty awards to the following faculty members: Congratulations to the Dedman College recipients: Wookun Kim, Ph.D.: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics Andrea Laurent-Simpson, Ph.D.: Lecturer, Department of Sociology Tomce Runcevski, Ph.D.: Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry Holly Bowen, Ph.D.: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology Neely Myers, Ph.D.: Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Additional SMU recipients: Amber Bemak, MFA: Assistant Professor, Film and Media Arts, Meadows School [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-12T12:14:30-08:00 February 12th, 2021|Anthropology, Chemistry, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Economics, Faculty News, Psychology, Sociology|Comments Off

30% Tuition Reduction for all Dedman College Master’s Degrees

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-10T08:42:42-08:00 February 12th, 2021|Biology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Earth Sciences, Economics, Graduate News, Mathematics, Psychology, Statistical Science|Comments Off

SMU alumna Whitney Wolfe Herd makes history as the youngest female CEO to take a company public

Dallas News Originally Posted: Feb. 11, 2021 A company catering to women and led by women has made its 31-year-old female founder a billionaire. Bumble Inc., the owner of the dating app where women make the first move, sold shares in its upcoming trading debut at $43, valuing chief executive officer Whitney Wolfe Herd’s stake at more than $900 million and lifting her overall fortune above $1 billion. The listing caps a saga that’s both inspiration and cautionary tale for women tech founders. Wolfe Herd, a graduate of Southern Methodist University, capitalized on an underserved market and built a multibillion-dollar company that was in a sense born from one of the most vexing obstacles to women entrepreneurs: sexual harassment. READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-11T14:01:26-08:00 February 11th, 2021|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Sociology (Alumni)|Comments Off

Book Fest Submissions | Did you publish a book in 2019 or ’20?

Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute (DCII) Book Fest Dear Faculty and Staff: The DCII’s annual Book Fest, sponsored by the Godbey Lecture Series, is a unique celebration of all books published by SMU faculty and staff the year prior. Unfortunately, the Book Fest was cancelled during the unprecedented spring 2020 semester and the difficult decision was made to not host an in-person event this spring. We would like to take the opportunity though to celebrate your books in a new, socially distanced format. The DCII will purchase copies of books published in 2019 and 2020 by faculty and staff and display them in the library of our new space in Gerald J. Ford Hall for Research and Innovation. All of campus will then be invited to [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-05T13:21:51-08:00 February 5th, 2021|DCII, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Events, Faculty News|Comments Off

These Monstrous Texas Sinkholes Are Getting Bigger, And Here’s Why We Should Be Worried Read More: These Monstrous Texas Sinkholes Are Getting Bigger

KNUE OriginallyPosted: February 2, 2021 Everything is bigger in Texas - we know that. The food, the trucks, the pride...you get the idea. But we do have a concern (or two) out in West Texas that we really shouldn't be that proud of. They're called the Wink Sinks - two monstrous sinkholes out in Winkler County. For officials out in West Texas, this isn't anything new. In fact, the sinkholes first made an appearance in 1980. They've now grown so large, that they could possibly unite and cause "catastrophic" damage. That's not something I want to see. Ever. According to Atlas Obscura, decades of drilling for oil and gas in Winkler County, especially during the peak years between 1926 and 1964, have resulted in an extremely unstable [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2021-02-02T09:03:46-08:00 February 2nd, 2021|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Earth Sciences, Faculty News|Comments Off