The Council on General Education met on December 6, 2024. The meeting minutes for November 8, 2024 were approved at this meeting. Below is the agenda, and the meeting minutes have now been posted on the General Education website.
Approval of the Agenda for December 6, 2024, Council on General Education meeting.
Approval of Minutes for the November 8, 2024, Council on General Education meeting.
Course Proposals (revisions)
ANTH 3352-TAS
ANTH 3343-TAS
BIOL 1303-ES
Literary Analysis and Interpretation (non-English) Rubric Update (Dayna)
Course and Experience Proposal Review Process Discussion
Students in Cohort 27 of The Guildhall at SMU showcase their capstone games at an exhibition and celebrate commencement exercises on Friday, May 17, 2019 at The Guildhall at SMU in Plano, Texas. 19-204
U.S. Department of State's Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship logo
Each year, the Gilman Scholarship provides awards of up to $5,000 to more than 3,000 students across the country, helping to increase access to international education. SMU is proud to have three recipients from the fall application cycle.
Payton Deichler is majoring in Management while also studying Italian, Russian, and Spanish languages. He will be participating in the SMU-in-Prague program this summer to continue building his Russian language skills.
Eduardo Perez is planning to major in International Studies and will spend the spring semester in Amman, Jordan with the School of International Training’s Geopolitics, International Relations, and the Future of the Middle East program. Eduardo also received Gilman’s Critical Need Language Award to support his study of Arabic while abroad.
Victoria Valderrey is majoring in Management, International Studies, and World Languages: Spanish and French and travelled over Jan-Term as part of the new SMU-in-Paris: Perspectives on French Identity program.
The next application cycle for Gilman Scholarship will open in mid-January 2025. The spring deadline is March 6, 2025. Applicants are selected based on the impact of the proposed abroad program on their academic and professional career, their ability to make a meaningful impact on the host community, and their potential for academic success while on the program. All Gilman Scholars receive Federal Pell Grant funding and half in Fall 2024 cycle’s national cohort identify as first-generation college students.
Students interested in applying for the award should contact Brandon Gray Miller, assistant dean for University Honors Program and Fellowships, to learn more.
The Office of General Education is seeking facilitators for the Spring 2025 Common Curriculum Reading program. This exciting opportunity is open to anyone eager to engage in meaningful discussions about thought-provoking texts.
Participants will explore this book, which discusses the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the growing belief that AI will solve all of society’s problems. However, Broussard argues that there are certain ethical issues that AI can’t address. In Fall 2024, thirty-three students completed the program and obtained their Civic and Individual Ethics (CIE) Proficiency & Experience. Both students and facilitators will play key roles in fostering a collaborative learning environment. Join a community dedicated to enriching the SMU experience through dialogue and reflection.
Staff or faculty interested in serving as facilitators for Spring 2025 must-read Artificial Unintelligence and attend eight reading group meetings throughout the semester. Meetings are scheduled from 4:00pm to 5:30pm on select Wednesdays dates. Facilitators can also earn extra compensation provided they fulfill the commitment requirements.
Applications are due Friday, January 17th, 2025.
For more details and to apply, email Jay Guillory (jguillory@smu.edu)
As we move into the spring semester at Southern Methodist University, we want to take a moment to celebrate a significant achievement from the fall. We proudly recognized 25 first-generation students who graduated this winter. Their hard work, dedication, and perseverance has led them to this incredible milestone, and we couldn’t be more proud of their accomplishments.
Being a first-generation student comes with unique challenges. These students have had to navigate their paths with determination and grit. Their graduation is not only a personal achievement but also a powerful testament to their resilience and commitment to their goals.
The image above shows just a few of our first-gen graduates that came by our office one last time to celebrate their success. We presented each student with a first-gen stole, a meaningful symbol of their journey and achievements. Additionally, we gifted each student an SMU alumni mug and personalized letters from our first-gen allies. These heartfelt messages offered words of encouragement and pride, reminding our graduates that they are part of a strong and supportive community.
These graduates are trailblazers, paving the way for future first-gen students. Their success stories inspire others to pursue higher education and demonstrate that, with perseverance and support, they too can achieve their dreams. As we continue into the spring semester, we are excited to support our current and future first-gen students. We look forward to celebrating more successes and milestones as they work toward their goals.
We invite the entire SMU community to join us in celebrating the accomplishments of our winter graduates. Their journey is a powerful reminder of the transformative power of education and the strength of our first-gen community. Congratulations to all, and here’s to a successful and inspiring spring semester!
To honor their achievements, we have included a list of our First-Gen winter graduates below. Each name represents a story of perseverance, dedication, and success. We are proud of all they have accomplished and look forward to seeing their continued impact in the world.
This fall, the Office of Engaged Learning successfully piloted the First Year Research Experience. This program is aimed at engaging high-achieving students who are interested in research but not affiliated with an honors or scholar group.
Fourteen students joined the initial cohort. They took the FYRE course (UNIV 1102) together and worked as research assistants under faculty mentors:
Dr. Matthew Boulanger (Anthropology)
Dr. Courtney Brown (Creative Computation)
Dr. John Buynak (Chemistry)
Dr. Maria Langlois and Dr. Milica Mormann (Marketing)
Dr. Monnie McGee (Statistics and Data Science)
Dr. Christopher Roos and Dr. Kacy Hollenback (Anthropology)
Dr. Janille Smith-Colin (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
The FYRE class: students meeting their mentors for the first time
The FYRE class, taught by Dr. Jennifer Ebinger and Dr. Adam Scott Neal, gave students a deeper understanding of the research process through activities and discussions that centered around the mentors’ research. For their final project, each student produced a 3-minute presentation that explained their mentor’s research questions and the methods they used during the semester.
Dr. Caitlin Anderson, Chair and Teaching Associate Professor of University Foundations, attended the final presentations. She said, “It’s clear that the students learned so much through their research experience, as they each had a solid command of the material. I’m looking forward to continuing this partnership [with the Office of Engaged Learning] in future terms!”
For Qien Shensun, who is pursuing statistics and computer science majors, one of the best parts of the class was the panel discussions, “where researchers shared their experiences and insights. They highlighted important aspects of research that I had previously overlooked, such as the influence of pressures, financial constraints, and how these factors can shape a research project’s process and outcomes.”
Qien gained a lot of practical skills in her research with Dr. Brown. “In our Dinosaur Choir project, we had to build and connect various components, including a mouth-tracking camera, sound amplification devices, and the main control screen. . . . I learned how to systematically troubleshoot each piece of equipment, as every device has its own unique and efficient debugging method.”
Sohom Patel, a civil engineering major, is enjoying the FYRE experience. He says, “I loved getting to meet people that were interested in research as a freshman . . . Something interesting I learned from class was all the different types of people and personalities everyone has and how that can drive research as well as relationships.”
The faculty mentors have been impressed with the calibre of these students. Dr. Maria Langlois said, “my FYRE student, Ariadne [Aramayo Abusada], embraced this opportunity wholeheartedly. Her curiosity, adaptability, and eagerness to learn have made working with her a truly rewarding experience as we explore the complexities of consumer behavior and decision-making in research together.”
This first FYRE cohort will continue working with their mentors this spring. OEL is also welcoming a second cohort of students who will be taking the class this spring. Dr. Leanne Ketterlin-Geller (Education Policy and Leadership) and Dr. Brett Story (Civil and Environmental Engineering) will be among the new faculty mentors joining the program.
The Office of Engaged Learning’s newest issue of our newsletter is available to read online. Check out news and highlights from Fall 2024 along with upcoming workshops and events for Spring 2025. Click here for a PDF version.
Did you know that January is National Mentoring Month? Peer mentorship is a valuable high-impact practice that fosters personal and academic growth in college students by creating connections, a sense of belonging, and providing the guidance they need to be successful. The Mustang Mentors Peer Mentoring program, launched by The Office of Engaged Learning, is bringing peer-mentorship to life.
National Mentoring Month was created in 2002 by MENTOR and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to “amplify, encourage, and strengthen mentorship for young people.”
The goals of National Mentoring Month are to:
Raise awareness of mentoring in its various forms.
Recruit individuals to mentor, especially in programs that have waiting lists of young people
Promote the rapid growth of mentoring by recruiting organizations to engage their constituents in mentoring
The Mustang Mentors program has an exciting semester ahead with cohort events and recruitment for the upcoming academic year.
Do you know a student who is looking for community or an opportunity to build their leadership skills? Encourage them to sign up to gain a mentor or become a mentor by visiting the Mustang Mentors website.
We are excited to invite you to participate in our next Engage Dallas Book Club, hosted in collaboration with the SMU Budd Center. This spring our featured book is How to Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.
“Ibram X. Kendi’s concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America–but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.”
Grab your lunch and join us on Zoom as we discuss ways to pursue antiracism in Dallas and how we can recognize and grow through our own biases.
Enhancements have been implemented in Degree Planner, which has resolved several course-sharing issues previously reported by students and academic advisors.
With the launch of Degree Planner 2.0, SMU did not have the option to adjust when course sharing was evaluated. This led most students, especially newer students with several remaining requirements, to see their Common Curriculum requirements grouped together upon opening their plan. In addition, Degree Planner auto-selects courses that it determines would benefit students, particularly those that fulfill multiple Common Curriculum requirements.
With this enhancement, Degree Planner will no longer constantly evaluate course sharing and will only evaluate it once a student selects a course. Requirements will default to appearing individually unless a student specifically selects a course that fulfills multiple. This means the tool operates regarding course sharing in much the same way as Degree Planner 1.0 but with all the speed and improvements of 2.0.
It is possible that Degree Planner may still auto-select courses for individual requirements, but the SMU in Four team has not encountered anything as extreme as what it was doing prior to this enhancement. We also have a continuing issue open with our vendor: reducing the number of times Degree Planner auto-selects courses.
Overall, this is a significant enhancement and has resolved the issue we have received most frequently with the tool.
Thanks go to several team members in the Registrar’s Office and the Office of Information Technology for implementing these enhancements. As a reminder, undergraduate students will be required to submit an updated Degree Plan by Saturday, March 1, according to the Academic Calendar.
