Within the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the Carson National Forest, SMU-in-Taos satellite campus offers SMU students a unique experience.
SMU-in-Taos rises from the ruins of historic Fort Burgwin
While working for the Museum of New Mexico in 1956, noted archaeologist Fred Wendorf was enlisted to locate the pre-Civil War Fort Burgwin, also known as Cantonment Burgwin, a military base approximately 10 miles from Taos, New Mexico. After finding the buried ruins, Wendorf oversaw the site’s intensive excavation and reconstruction, transforming it into a research center.
In 1964, Wendorf joined SMU, establishing the Anthropology Department. That same year, SMU began acquiring the Fort Burgwin property, the merger spurred by the involvement and interest of former Texas Gov. William P. Clements, Jr., then chair of the SMU Board of Governors.
“It was Fred joining the SMU faculty that got all of this in motion,” says David Lee, assistant vice president for curricular operations and strategy. “But Gov. Clements helped secure the property for SMU.”
The northern New Mexico satellite campus held its first classes during the summer of 1973.
“For almost half the life of the University, SMU-in-Taos has been a part of the SMU experience,” Lee says. “As a specialized satellite campus, 50 years is a tremendous legacy.”
After four decades on SMU’s faculty, Wendorf retired in 2003. He died in 2015 at the age of 90.
Satellite campus enhancements foster enriched experiences
Nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and surrounded by the Carson National Forest, the SMU-in-Taos satellite campus is situated on 423 acres and includes 34 buildings. Over the past 50 years, the campus has leveraged its “classroom without walls” philosophy by expanding both in land and facilities.
For example, the Fred Wendorf Information Commons and the campus’ library opened in 2004. Five years later marked the dedication of Casita Clements, a 3,350-square-foot residential student facility. It became the first commercial or institutional building in the Taos area to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification for sustainable, environmentally responsible construction.
Centrally located is the Carolyn and David Miller Campus Center, dedicated in 2015, which includes a great hall accommodating up to 100 guests, seminar rooms, classrooms, plazas and deep porches. Upcoming plans center on renovating the dining hall, for which early artist renderings have been completed.
Campus offers breathtaking backdrop for immersive learning
SMU-in-Taos campus offers small class sizes, nurturing engagement and connection for undergraduate students. Lee says between 90 to 100 students typically take one class per term; two-week terms are held in January, May and August.
“We are working to add new programs in the future to expand student opportunities,” he says.
Each term, undergraduate students connect with the local community by participating in field trips, for example, to notable sites such as Picuris Pueblo, Earthships and Chimayó in Santa Fe.
In addition to for-credit courses for students, the annual SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute provides a summer weekend of informal classes taught by SMU faculty members for non-students. The four-day event offers courses on a variety of subjects, from local cuisine to the history of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos.
“Most universities don’t have anything like this to offer,” Lee says. “When we look back on this legacy, we see what an important part SMU-in-Taos plays in the identity of the University – how it sets us apart to have a place like this.”