Come join the stampede at the Fry the Frogs pep rally including a special football announcement Friday, September 23, at 6:30 p.m. on Doak Walker Plaza. The exciting event will fire up our spirit before we cheer on the Mustangs against TCU Saturday, September 24, in Ford Stadium. Game time will be announced later, but plan to attend the tailgate at the SMU Alumni tent near Clements Hall before it starts. Pony Up!
After the Friday pep rally, attendees receive free admission to these great matches: SMU men’s soccer vs. Florida International University at 7 p.m. at Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium and SMU volleyball vs. University of South Florida at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.
Find a schedule of events and more Family Weekend information here.
Category: 2022
The SMU community is invited to celebrate the dedication of the transformed visual arts facilities at Meadows School of the Arts Friday, September 16, at 11:30 a.m.
RSVP here.
We’re excited for what the new year holds, but it will only be possible with the support of dedicated Mustang donors. We hope you’ll be inspired to support our students, faculty and campus with your gift today.
Homecoming festivities start Thursday, October 20, when we celebrate our Distinguished Alumni Award honorees A. Shonn Evans Brown ’95, ’98; John Cartwright Phelan ’86; and Thear Sy Suzuki ’96; and Emerging Leader Award recipient Emily K. Graham ’07.
DAA recipient C.J. “Don” Donnally ’67, ’68, who passed away in May, will be honored posthumously.
SMU President R. Gerald Turner and the SMU Alumni Board will host the event recognizing extraordinary achievement, outstanding character and good citizenship. The celebration at Armstrong Fieldhouse will open with a reception at 6 p.m. that will be followed by a dinner and awards presentation at 7 p.m.
Read more.
The Josh Abbott Band will perform Saturday, September 10, at 4:30 p.m. on Doak Walker Plaza, on the north side of Ford Stadium, before the Mustangs play Lamar in the home opener, kicking off at 6 p.m. Get entry to both with a previously purchased game ticket or a concert ticket.
Read more.
Come back to where it all began to reconnect with classmates and SMU. With loads of events, there’s something for everyone. Be sure to stop in at the SMU Alumni tent near Clements Hall. Check out the schedule and make your plans now.
Here are some of the highlights:
Thursday, October 20
Distinguished Alumni Awards
6 p.m. Reception
7 p.m. Dinner and presentation
Armstrong Fieldhouse
Registration and information
Friday, October 21
- Enjoy tours of campus landmarks and new additions, and visit the George W. Bush Presidential Center and the Meadows Museum.
- Undergraduate reunion parties at various locations. More information.
Saturday, October 22
The parade, fun on the Boulevard and the SMU vs. Cincinnati football game are just a few of the exciting activities.
Read more.
Latino Alumni of SMU will host a celebration of the academic achievements of their 2022 scholarship recipients Thursday, September 15, at 6 p.m. at the Meadows Museum. Register by September 9.
Categories
Welcome back, Mustangs!
The Residential Commons are abuzz, organizations are going full speed and the events calendar is already packed. Students are back and ready for the big year ahead.
Read more.
A NASA-funded team led by SMU researchers think that their small, lightweight device developed to measure spaceship velocity will improve the odds of successful landings on Mars and other planets.
Smaller, they say, is better in space.
The optical microresonator built by the team is only 2 millimeters in length, compared to the velocity-monitoring tool most commonly used on spacecraft – the Fabry-Perot interferometer – which can be as long as 500 millimeters. NASA and other space agencies may be able to use the microresonator to get an accurate, quick measurement of how fast a spaceship is moving in a specific direction.
The first proof-of-concept results have been published in AAIA Journal.
“Every gram of a device makes a huge difference in how much fuel I will have to have on a spacecraft and how many other items I can include as payload on that spacecraft,” says SMU’s Volkan Ötügen, one of the creators of the optical microresonator.
Ötügen is senior associate dean of the Mechanical Engineering Department in SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering and director of the SMU MicroSensor Laboratory. The device he and other researchers built uses a phenomenon known as “whispering gallery mode.”
A spacecraft’s velocity is a key measurement during its descent, because the time between when a spaceship enters a planet’s atmosphere and the time it lands is usually only minutes at most. And costly accidents like the crashed European spacecraft Schiaparelli on Mars underscore how quickly a mission can go wrong when the spacecraft is given wrong information.
Just 40 percent of Mars missions – launched by any space agency – actually land there successfully.
Read more at SMU Research.
Categories
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Check out these quick links to great stories and photos featuring the people, programs, events and more making news on the Hilltop.
- Photos: New students settle in on the Hilltop
- Men’s basketball starts non-conference play November 7
- Rising Scholars Program goes residential
- Math education expert debunks indoctrination claims
- SMU student journalists win top editor, reporter awards
- Mind the gap: Mutual funds often underperform in the long run
- Tiffaney Dale Hunter ’18 named a 2022 Women in Business honoree
- Research shows the role empathy may play in music
With new students heading to classes soon, exciting faculty research underway, and progress made on new and improved structures all over the campus, this school year promises to be bigger and better than ever. That’s because of the generous support of Mustangs like you.
Visit the Hilltop this fall to see how your gifts ignite our University’s success today and for years to come.
Give now.
Plan to meet up with fellow Mustangs at away-game tailgates throughout the football season, beginning September 3, when we play UNT in Denton. At home, check out the SMU Alumni tent on the Boulevard, beginning September 10. And stay tuned for details about a big pep rally for the SMU-TCU game September 24.
It’s time to Boulevard!
When our Mustangs play at home, gather at the SMU Alumni tent near Clements Hall for a pre-game “pop up” experience featuring snacks and drinks from partner purveyors. A cash bar will also be offered. The fun begins two hours before kickoff. Click for information and registration.
Away-game tailgates
SMU football is hitting the road for some great games this season. If you find yourself in “enemy” territory, don’t worry; you’re not alone. SMU Alumni Relations and the Mustang Club will bring a taste of the Hilltop to road games. Enjoy food and beverages with fellow Mustangs at tailgates starting two hours before kickoff at these games:
September 3: University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
September 17: University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
October 1: University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
November 17: Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
Find information and registration here.
Meet Diamond M Club President Kellie Prinz Johnson ’96, whose connection to the Hilltop seems to grow stronger each year. In fact, she named her son after her best band friend and her favorite SMU professor, and she’s now a proud SMU parent.
What do you do for work?
I am the director of operations at Retro Studios, which is a video game developer and subsidiary of Nintendo. Some of the games we’ve made are the Metroid Prime series, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. I manage everything that is not involved with making the games or IT. I’ve been there for 19 years.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Basically, driving up and down I-35 coming to SMU events. *Laughs.* I’m also an avid baseball fan, so when SMU isn’t having sporting activities, I fill the void with Major League Baseball. I just got back from Chicago where I saw the Cubs, my favorite team, play five games in four days. But I love going to SMU games; I have season tickets to football and men’s and women’s basketball so I’m here as often as possible.
What is your favorite Diamond M Club memory?
My favorite memory is how I get to do cool things, meet people and represent the club. A few years ago, at Pigskin Revue, we gave Paul Layne ‘76, who is SMU’s superfan, a beanie and he was really honored by that, so it was special for me to be the one to give him something the Mustang Band doesn’t take lightly or give to many who were not in the band.
Art and science intersect in the hands of SMU junior Travis Nolan ’24. He’s an international origami champion whose fascination with dinosaurs and paper folding come together as a study of the biomechanics of prehistoric creatures.
Categories
Thinking inside the box
Students tackled the ultimate DIY challenge by building a “baby supercomputer” that not only deepens their understanding of networking and parallel computing, but also shows big potential for their artificial intelligence research.
As SMU’s powerful new NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD supercomputer research system launched on campus, students assembled their own “baby supercomputer.” Small but mighty, it’s capable of running and training artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models with the potential to make an array of modern conveniences even better at what they do.
“Our student team already has access to a really powerful supercomputer on campus, but having this miniature version gives them a chance to administer their own supercomputer, which is a novel experience,” explains physicist Eric Godat ’18. He’s the team lead for SMU’s Office of Information Technology Research and Data Sciences Services and director of its Student Technology Assistant in Residence (STAR) Program.
Read more.
In a July 3 interview with ESPN staff writer Harry Lyles, Jr., former SMU football safety Ra Kazadi ’22 talks about how the loosening of name, image and likeness (NIL) restrictions on college athletes and the financial freedom it generated gave him the wings to explore and grow as an artist.
EXCERPT:
SMU safety Ra’Sun Kazadi is a unique talent among college football players.
You might see that he’s appeared in 10 games over the past two seasons and registered two tackles and say that’s a stretch, but it’s not. Ra – as he’s often referred to by his teammates, friends and family – has talents that go beyond the football field.
He’s a gifted artist, and last July 1 – with the loosening of restrictions on college athletes making money through their name, image and likeness – Kazadi’s world as an artist opened up considerably.
“I’m able to do more of the work that I want to do because of NIL,” he said. “I can sell my pieces for more, and therefore, I don’t have to do, like, 100 pieces a month.
“It’s funny because it’s been less about money now. It’s been more about just working and growing, and just trying things.”
Kazadi sold his work before NIL restrictions were lifted, but couldn’t put his name on it, have shows or promote his art on his Instagram or website.
“It was just basically relying on people to know that I was an artist and then doing stuff for super cheap,” Kazadi said. Because of these limitations, he said he wasn’t able to sell pieces for much – $30 for a sketch, and maybe around $100 for a painting if he was lucky.
“It wasn’t at the scale, even close to what it was now,” he said.
Kazadi said he’s able to get higher prices for his work now because people know it is his and he’s able to promote it. The greater financial freedom has given him more time to experiment with his art and continue to improve at his craft.
Read the full story.
During the 2021–22 academic year, 69 Cox School of Business graduate students were currently active duty in, or veterans of, the U.S. Armed Forces. Cox Today magazine profiled a cross-section of the students about what they would like all of us to know about their time in military service. Here’s a sampling of their responses:
Corbin C. Anderson
Former Captain, Aviation Officer and UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter Pilot in the U.S. Army
Full-time two-year MBA in finance
Anticipated graduation in 2023
Originally from Westlake, Texas
“I had the honor of serving with amazing leaders, soldiers and aviators who came from all different walks of life. Those individuals I served with helped mold me to become a successful officer and junior leader in the Army. People are the Army’s most important asset. I was blessed to serve with leaders of character who were incredibly smart, tough and diverse, and who had the ability to solve incredibly complex and time-sensitive problems. I will forever be grateful for the individuals with whom I had the privilege to serve and who continue to serve our country.”
Destiny Perez
Former E-6 Aircraft Maintenance Technician and Instructor for the Air Education and Training Command in the U.S. Air Force
M.A./MBA in arts management and arts entrepreneurship
Anticipated graduation in 2023
Originally from San Marcos, Texas
“Military service afforded me time to figure out who I was and what I wanted in life. A mentor once asked, ‘If you could only do one thing the rest of your life and you never got paid for it, yet you’d still be happy, what would that be?’ Thanks to that question, I changed my undergraduate degree to focus on my passion for dance. Later in my service, as an instructor, I learned I love teaching as much as I love learning. If I could share one thing with you, it’s to ask yourself the same question. Find your passion.”
Drewnard “D” Woods
Current Combat Airlifter, E6 rank, in the U.S. Air Force Reserve
Professional MBA (PMBA) in real estate/finance
Anticipated graduation in 2023
Originally from Chicago, Illinois
“Coming from the South Side of Chicago, it’s a war zone in itself. I chose to join the Air Force because I knew it would challenge me mentally and would propel me forward in other ways, such as being able to pursue a career in business, to look sharp, give attention to detail and be willing to show up early even if that means waiting around a bit. I’ve gained other great attributes, too. Most importantly, I knew I was joining something that I would be proud of the rest of my life, and that maybe one day, I would be able to tell my story to encourage others to join the ranks of the world’s greatest Air Force.”
Read the full story.
A groundbreaking new collaboration between telecommunications giant AT&T and SMU will deliver high-level training, practical experience and a potential employment offer in the field of data science for a group of University students spending the summer together in the classroom and on the job.
AT&T is covering the cost of the training for the students and for the overlapping on-site internship. After the program ends, each participant who earns an SMU certificate for completing the on-campus boot camp and the internship will receive interviews for permanent positions with AT&T after graduation.
“We’ve had interns for years, but we’ve never really done a boot camp where we actually have the formal training using the Artificial Intelligence tools we use here internally at AT&T and then collaborate on projects, too,” says Mark Austin, AT&T’s vice president for data science. “So, this is unique, and we’re excited about it.”
The nine students selected for the program are spending half of the summer in an SMU classroom led by Bivin Sadler, technical assistant professor and course lead faculty for SMU’s online Master of Science in Data Science program. Part of that “boot camp” experience includes a competition between the students, divided into teams, working to solve problems presented by their AT&T mentors. Following the SMU instruction, the group will head to AT&T offices for the second half of the summer to work with the massive data sets and corporate-level challenges that are bread-and-butter to the communication company’s own data science group.
The Data Science Scholars are a mix of undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in various STEM fields – data science, statistics, math and engineering.
Demand for data scientists is expected to increase by 22 percent over the next decade, according to estimates by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce. Women, who now earn the majority of undergraduate and advanced degrees, are significantly underrepresented in computer science fields.
Read more.
Curtis has been a creative director for more than 25 years with Wieden+Kennedy, a global agency headquartered in Portland, Oregon. He’s a legend in the field with three Emmy wins for best commercial, and seven Emmy nominations to his credit. In Advertising Age’s 20th anniversary edition of Creativity Magazine, Curtis was named one of the 50 most influential creative leaders of the past 20 years.
His wide-ranging portfolio for Nike, ESPN and other high-profile brands includes an acclaimed commercial featuring Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons fighting over a Coke. In 2010, Adweek named It’s Mine the Super Bowl spot of the decade.
The SMU collaboration took flight during a conversation with SMU Vice President for Development and External Affairs Brad E. Cheves.
“Brad and I were talking about all the amazing individuals who have come through SMU over the years. It’s an impressive list,” Curtis says. “We both thought it would be something interesting to – in a broadcast spot – remind folks of.”
After getting the greenlight, Curtis and his production team faced the challenge of tracking down archival video and images. They worked with Laura Graham ’16, director of photography and video in SMU Marketing and Communications, to locate assets and secure licensing approvals. Curtis supplied his expertise to the project at no charge.
The commercial encapsulates the breadth and achievements of our Mustang family and the reputation for excellence that draws the best and brightest to the Hilltop. (Play the video above to see for yourself.)
It was a labor of love for Mustangs with star power like Academy Award-winner Kathy Bates ’69, whose distinctive voice provides the narration, and fan favorite Brian Baumgartner ’95, who submitted his own video when the cost of licensing footage of him as Kevin in The Office TV series was prohibitive.
Other notable alumni featured include NFL star and sports commentator “Dandy” Don Meredith ’60, real estate titan Trammel Crow ’39 and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd ’11.
Also shown are Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on campus in 1966 and former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and the late George H.W. Bush on campus in 2013 to celebrate the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center with former President Bush.
The ad ends with an intriguing question for the future Mustangs viewing it: What will you do?
The commercial premiered during the TCU game September 25, 2021, where SMU retained the Iron Skillet with a 42–34 win.
“Maybe the spot helped us beat the Horned Frogs, who knows,” Curtis says. “What I do know is it reminds us that we’re all a part of something pretty special around here. That’s inspiring, and worth celebrating.”
– From SMU Magazine, spring 2022
Categories
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Check out these quick links to great stories featuring the people, programs, events and more making news on the Hilltop.
- Celebrating SMU Ignited in Southern California
- SMU researchers create a tiny sensor with out-of-this-world impact
- Eight students earn prestigious Fulbright, Boren awards
- It’s a busy summer for math research fellows
- Nearly half of Mustang student-athletes earn All-Academic accolades
- Dedman Law appoints inaugural Bromberg Centennial Chair
- NSF grant fuels research on elementary STEM instruction
- Broadening outreach through digitally mediated ministry
- Starting September 18: Velázquez’s King Philip IV of Spain on exhibit
The Mustang Band represented the U.S. as thousands turned out for D-Day commemoration ceremonies in Normandy, France, in June. The trip was more than two years in the making because of the pandemic and brought history alive for the young musicians.
Read more:
On June 13, SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow lit up SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, at the kickoff of our $1.5 billion campaign for impact in Southern California. More than 200 impassioned Mustangs from across the region gathered to celebrate the campaign empowering outstanding students, enriching teaching and research, and enhancing our campus and community.
Read more.
Pony ears and cheers are on the way. The first season under Head Football Coach Rhett Lashlee kicks off September 3 with the Mustangs traveling to UNT. SMU will host Lamar at Ford Stadium September 10. Check out the schedule and get season tickets now.Six big games come to Ford Stadium this fall, highlighted by the Battle for the Iron Skillet against TCU on September 24 during Family Weekend, and a match-up with 2021 CFP participant and AAC Champion Cincinnati on October 22 for Homecoming .
The Mustangs will also host AAC Championship game participant and in-state rival Houston on November 5, as well as Navy in a Friday night contest on October 14, before Memphis visits to close the regular season for Senior Day on November 26.
SMU’s non-conference slate features the season opener at North Texas on September 3, a home game against Lamar on September 10 and a match-up at Maryland on September 17.
The Mustangs finished 8-4 in 2021 and have won at least eight games in two of the last three seasons (7-3 in 2020). The 2021 Fenway Bowl bid was the third consecutive year with a bowl berth. SMU reached as high as No. 19 in the in AP Poll and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll last season.
Kickoff times and TV information will be announced at a later date.
Check out the full schedule.
Purchase tickets.
If you’re from Dallas, or never left after graduation, then you’re never at a loss for things to do or ways to reconnect with classmates and create impromptu mini reunions at any time of the year.
The warm summer weather presents the perfect time to meet up and head out with your fellow Mustangs and reminisce about how falling in love with SMU meant falling in love with all things Dallas too. Whether it’s hiking or biking, aquariums or botanical gardens, museums or art galleries there’s something for everyone on this list of things to do with your herd this summer!
Read more.
Our alumni leaders, founders, innovators and creators are ready to guide startup-minded students aiming to transform their bold ideas into businesses.
Some students arrive on the Hilltop with a plan in mind. Others find that spark in a class, through a research project or even in a casual conversation over coffee.
When they decide to bring their vision to life, students can find step-by-step support. Across the campus, a multitude of experiential, academic and research resources provide a framework for entrepreneurial endeavors, while funding from grants and competitions get them off the ground.
Our alumni have blazed new paths in tech, business and just about every other sector of the economy. As mentors, they provide guidance, share expertise, generate opportunities and cheer on students finding new ways to make an impact on the world.
Read more.
Congratulations to history-making SMU alumna Averie Bishop ’19, ’22, the first Asian American Miss Texas.
She currently serves on the Mayor’s Anti-Hate Advisory Council. It was established last year by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to advise the city and police on ways to increase tolerance and understanding and engage the private sector and communities in discouraging hate and encouraging diversity.
Bishop received a B.A. in human rights in 2019 and graduated from Dedman School of Law in May. While she was an undergraduate, Bishop and her mother establish the Tulong Foundation in 2015. The nonprofit organization serves an area of the Philippines where Marevi Bishop grew up. The foundation supports children’s education and efforts to develop sustainable farming and clean drinking water. As an SMU Human Rights Fellow in 2018–19, she spent the summer in the Philippines building water wells in rural communities.
On the Hilltop, Bishop displayed her vocal talent as Cinderella in Into the Woods, the student musical presented during Family Weekend in 2017.
Bishop will now start preparing for the Miss America pageant, which will take place in Connecticut in December. She is active on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, offering a candid look at her life as a law student and beauty pageant contestant.
Read more:
Want to be less selfish, manipulative or impulsive? A new study has found that tasks designed to make someone more agreeable also effectively reduce a trio of negative personality traits known as the “Dark Triad” – Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.
SMU psychology professor Nathan Hudson’s study showed that practicing activities like “donating money to a charity that you would normally spend on yourself” or “talking to a stranger and asking them about themselves” decreased all three Dark Triad traits after four months. That was the case even for people who said they wanted to increase their dark traits, not diminish them.
In a surprise twist, though, Hudson’s study published in the Journal of Personality found that these people did want to become more agreeable – modest, kind, considerate and helpful.
“Thus, interventions targeting agreeableness may be an effective way to help reduce dark traits in a way that people may be likely to cooperate with,” he says.
How does Hudson account for the finding?
“I’d guess that people with high levels of Machiavellianism, for example, do want to be nice, kind people. But they also feel that manipulating others is a good and useful strategy for navigating life and getting what they want.”
And perhaps there’s a mental disconnect for people with high levels of the Dark Triad.
“No one wants to see themselves as bad or evil. So people tend to justify their bad behavior,” he says.
Read more.
With an SMU career spanning nearly five decades in the Meadows School of the Arts, Barbara Hill Moore has been named the recipient of the 2022 Faculty Career Achievement Award for her contributions to the teaching, scholarship and service missions of the University.
“I am truly honored to cap off my career at Meadows by accepting this wonderful award of recognition,” says Hill Moore, senior associate dean for faculty and Meadows Foundation Distinguished Professor of Voice. “SMU offered me the opportunity to teach, mentor and advise many of the University’s biggest and brightest singing talents during my nearly 50 years here at the Hilltop, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
Hill Moore, a world-renowned opera singer and voice teacher, began teaching at Meadows in 1974 and served as chair of the voice department from 1977 through 1992. In the summer of 2011, she founded and began directing an international study abroad program, SMU-in-South Africa, built around teaching and directing a class in musical theater hosted by the Opera School and Choral Academy (OSCA) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa.
Hill Moore also founded SPIRITUAL VOICES in 1990, an ensemble of five soloists and accompanists who have sung throughout the U.S. and Europe, specializing in performing the earliest composed Negro spirituals and African American art song repertory.
Hill Moore is a recipient of SMU’s prestigious “M” Award. She was named Meadows Foundation Distinguished Professor of Voice in May 2005 and named SMU Distinguished University Citizen in 2009–10. In March 2010, the South Dallas Business and Professional Women’s Club honored Hill Moore as a trailblazer for her excellence in education. Through the Barbara Hill Moore and Bruce R. Foote Foundation, Hill Moore awards scholarships to underrepresented students in SMU’s graduate and artist certificate programs that are pursuing an advanced degree in classical vocal study.
Read more.
Check out these quick links to great stories featuring the people, programs, events and more making news on the Hilltop.
- Toyota’s president reflects on importance of STEM partnership
- Perkins School Dean Craig C. Hill to retire in December
- Medical school grad Cayenne Price ’17 wins prestigious award
- Putt Choate ’79 named to Southwest Conference Hall of Fame
- 5 questions with Better Call Saul’s Tina Parker ’91
- No shortcuts for alum shortbread entrepreneur
- SMU DataArts receives $1 million grant from Mellon Foundation
- Engineering team places second in drone innovation showcase
- Therizinosaur fossil shows dino with fearsome claws
- Liberty & Laughter: The Lighter Side of the White House
Categories
Bestowing our highest alumni honor
While our community mourns the loss of Chester John “Don” Donnally, Jr. ’67, ’68, we also look forward to celebrating him and our other 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees on October 20. Don was delighted to know of our plans to honor him, and we hope you will join us for the dinner and presentation during Homecoming Weekend.
Find more information, including registration.
Robin Suzanne Poston, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Memphis, has been named dean of SMU’s Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and associate provost for graduate education. She will assume her position at SMU August 15.
Poston has since 2018 led strategic initiatives at the University of Memphis to modernize academic, scholarly and international approaches that support enrollment growth, student success and timely graduation in its Graduate School. These initiatives serve Ph.D., professional and graduate certificate students across 161 graduate programs in 12 colleges and schools.
Poston also has served since 2015 as director of the Systems Testing Excellence Program (STEP) at the University of Memphis’ FedEx Institute of Technology. In that capacity she has supported interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students on government and industry-sponsored projects to build up research and curricular competencies, helping to promote STEP as an internationally recognized group of thought leaders in the science of systems testing. STEP researchers are currently working with the Department of Homeland Security and the Air Force Institute of Technology and in the past have performed projects for the Defense Information Systems Agency of the Department of Defense, FedEx Corporation and others.
“The Moody School for Graduate and Advanced Studies is focused on improving the quality and success of SMU’s graduate programs in concert with strategic investments in the research enterprise,” says Elizabeth G. Loboa, SMU provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “Graduate education is an essential component of a university’s research ecosystem, and doctoral students, in particular, constitute important metrics in the Carnegie Classification, which is used to distinguish universities in terms of their research productivity.
“Dr. Poston is a proven leader with deep experience at the intersection of research and graduate education,” Loboa adds. “She was the chief architect in the rise of University of Memphis from R2 to R1 in the Carnegie rankings, and we are excited that she is joining SMU’s leadership team at this time in our quest for even greater academic quality.”
Read more.
Jason P. Nance, an education policy and law scholar who studies inequalities in public education, has been named the Judge James Noel Dean at SMU’s Dedman School of Law. He will join SMU on August 10 from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he is associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law.
Nance began his career in education, teaching math to middle schoolers and GED and English courses to adults in Houston. After three years, he began to prepare for a career in education administration, intending to become a school principal. But Nance developed a keen interest in education policy and law through his graduate studies, ultimately earning a Ph.D. in education policy and administration before completing his law degree.
“The Dedman School of Law aspires both to maintain its long-standing top status in the region and to rise significantly in the national rankings,” says Elizabeth G. Loboa, SMU provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Throughout the interview process, campus stakeholders responded enthusiastically both to Jason’s experience and to his vision for the law school. Dedman Law has tremendous faculty and staff who have for years trained and supported the placement of our students in meaningful and impactful careers. Under Dean Nance’s leadership, we are well positioned to advance our well-earned reputation within the legal and business communities and to expand our impact in line with SMU’s aspirations for even greater academic excellence.”
Nance clerked for Judge Kent A. Jordan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware after graduating from law school. He served as a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, practicing corporate and securities litigation during the financial crisis of 2007–2010. Nance was a visiting assistant professor of law at the Villanova University School of Law before joining the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2011.
Since 2021, Nance has served as associate dean for research and faculty development at UF Law. Previously at UF Law, he served as associate dean for academic and faculty affairs, as an associate director of the Center for the Study of Race and Relations, and as an associate director for education and law at the Center on Children and Families. As professor of law, he taught education law, torts and remedies. He oversaw the continued development and implementation of the Introduction to Lawyering and the Legal Profession Program, then directed the program designed to help first-year law students develop key competencies to become effective lawyers.
“We look forward to welcoming Dean Nance to Dedman School of Law,” says SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “His early public education experience combined with a distinguished legal career and passion for education equity issues bring talents that will be valuable on many levels at SMU.”
Read more.
It was an exciting time on the Hilltop for sports fans as men’s golf, men’s tennis, equestrian and rowing all captured conference titles this spring. Go, Mustangs!
Equestrian
No. 1 seed SMU claimed its fourth straight conference championship, and second Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) title, after defeating No. 2 seed UT Martin, 11-9, March 26.
Four members of the team were tabbed as 2021–22 Ariat All-America selections by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association. Senior Mallory Vroegh ’22 and sophomore Nya Kearns ’24 were named as first-team horsemanship selections. Sophomore Taylor Madden ’24 was given the nod as a first-team selection in the flat, and freshman Elli Yeager ’25 earned second-team honors in fences.
SMU made it to the final four of the 2022 NCEA National Championships April 15, finishing the season with an 11-7 record, including a 4-1 mark in ECAC play.
Read more.
Men’s golf
The SMU men’s golf team secured its second American Athletic Conference (AAC) title and 10th title in program history, setting a 54-hole tournament scoring record of 835 (282-277-276, -29) April 24.
The season came to a close with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Bryan Regional May 18.
Read more.
Men’s tennis
Top-seeded SMU defeated the No. 2 seed Memphis 4-2 in the AAC tournament championship to claim its first AAC title and 10th conference championship in program history. The victory also gave the Mustangs an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships, marking the school’s 24th appearance.
SMU concluded its season with a 22-7 record after losing to LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Read more.
Rowing
SMU won all four races and successfully defended its AAC Women’s Rowing Championship May 15. The Mustangs finished with 168 points to win the team title.
The team wrapped up its run in 12th place at the NCAA Championships with an all-time conference team best 72 points.
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Future-focused change
SMU celebrated the future of the Cox School of Business and its role as a driver of Dallas innovation, breaking ground May 6 on a $140 million renovation and expansion project. As part of the SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow campaign, more than 50 donors have already invested more than $100 million toward the facilities designed to train students for a collaborative and technologically integrated world.
SMU is blazing a trail into the next era of business education. We have undertaken a two-year, $140 million renovation and expansion project to provide the facilities needed to train students for an ever-more collaborative and technologically integrated world. Enter our virtual experience to experience the new classrooms and collaborative spaces in our future facilities.
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Smiles lit up the room and excitement was in the air April 28 at the announcement of the new William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the SMU Cox School of Business to encourage business creation, leadership development and economic growth.
A commitment from celebrated energy expert and philanthropist William S. Spears, the largest gift by a non-alumnus in the history of SMU, will establish the William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the SMU Cox School of Business. This new addition to SMU’s $1.5 billion campaign for impact, SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow, will empower students, bolster faculty pursuits and ignite our community for future generations.
Read more.
“What SMU allows you to do is feel very empowered to create new experiences,” says Sameer Paroo ’01. The former Homecoming king candidate finds new ways to engage and connect with fellow Mustangs as chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Alumni of SMU.
Paroo is an “M” Award-winning, Toronto-born Mustang who grew up in Orlando and completed high school in Plano, Texas. The avid basketball fan has visited approximately 33 countries since finishing graduate school and has worked in both Nairobi, Kenya, and Vancouver, Canada. In fall 2000, as an SMU senior, he represented the Program Council as a Homecoming king candidate in the annual parade. Twenty-one years later, he had the opportunity to ride in the parade again, but this time as chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Alumni of SMU.
Read more.
Meet two outstanding Mustangs: At 19, Haley Taylor Schlitz is the youngest law school graduate in SMU history. At 85, Marillyn Burton Seeberger is making history of her own by receiving a bachelor’s degree and aiming for a new career as a screenwriter.
Seun Suberu ’23 created the CollegePlus app to help students take control of their future. Now it’s shaping his path, too. Over the past three years, Suberu has earned more than $85,000 in funding through multiple SMU competitions to fuel his startup.
Suberu – his first name is pronounced like “Sean” – continues to expand and refine his app while pursuing a degree in computer science and a minor in statistical science. His own experiences inspired CollegePlus. It guides prospective students through a series of questions to help them land on schools that are good matches for their interests and needs.
A strong computer science program, proximity to his family, scholarships and a thriving entrepreneurial community made SMU a clear choice for Suberu. Like many of his peers, however, he struggled during his college search before finding the right fit.
“I didn’t know what was feasible, given my credentials, what was affordable, if I could get a scholarship and so on,” says Suberu, who graduated from Mesquite High School. “I had more questions than answers.”
Read more.
SMU is launching Access SMU – additional merit scholarships – beginning with Texas students to meet full need for high-achieving scholars who receive federal Pell Grants and SMU merit scholarships.
Access SMU will break financial barriers to college entry and graduation – first for academically talented Texas students, with the goal to later expand the investment in more students who need help paying for college. The program will help high-achieving Texas students who receive federal Pell Grants to attend SMU regardless of financial means. Access SMU is expected to increase the number of first-generation students and students from underrepresented groups who earn their undergraduate degrees at SMU.
Read more.
Enjoy these quick links to videos, photos and stories about the people, programs, events and more making news on the Hilltop.
- Photos: Founders’ Day Weekend highlights
- Men’s tennis earns conference title; coach, students win accolades
- Watch: Kelvin Beachum ’10, ’12 ignites conversations with art
- Two Mustangs tapped in NFL draft; others signed as undrafted free agents
- Law school launches Impact Scholarships for underserved communities
- SMU senior wins prestigious Caraballo Scholarship
- Simmons School moves up in national rankings for third consecutive year
- Origami creations inspired by paleontology
- Writer-director Thane Economou ’10 talks about his SMU journey
- Where rivals become friends
- Robert Hasley ’77, ’78: ‘Everything is gonna be all right’
SMU Distinguished Professor Emerita of Art History Alessandra Comini gained acclaim early in her career with her on-the-ground investigation into an art world mystery. Now, through a $2 million planned gift to SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, she’s setting the stage for a new generation of the bold, curious and creative to make their own discoveries.
Comini’s gift will be split between two endowments:
- The newly created Alessandra Comini Endowed Professorship in the Division of Music to teach and study 19th-century composers, a period she identifies as critical to our understanding of music.
- The existing Alessandra Comini Endowed Fellowship Fund, which was launched in her honor with early support from former student Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo ’83 and Charlotte Whaley ’70, ’76, former editor of SMU’s Southwest Review.
“SMU has been my home for so long,” says Comini, who retired in 2005. “It’s an honor to give back to this University and support scholarship and research where my lifelong passions intersect. Art and music are so harmoniously intertwined. Art can’t be art without music by its side.”
The fellowship that bears her name supports the type of research that made her own breakthrough discovery possible. The fund awards $25,000 annually to an outstanding Meadows doctoral or postdoctoral art history student pursuing landmark research abroad that embraces multiple perspectives and cultural influences.
As a young professor, Comini traveled to Vienna in 1963 to study a series of self-portraits by Egon Schiele, an Expressionist painter and protégé of Gustav Klimt. Schiele’s controversial work and lifestyle eventually landed him in jail.
When she learned that no scholar had ever located the place where he was imprisoned, she had to find it. She drove to the nearby village of Neulengbach and quickly identified the local courthouse as the likely site. Initially turned away, she eventually sneaked in and made her way down a dark staircase into the basement. She found and photographed “cell No. 2,” the interior door of which Schiele had faithfully sketched, showing a former prisoner’s carved initials, M H.
Comini later published her research and photographs in Schiele in Prison, which garnered international accolades.
“It was the most exciting moment of my life,” she says.
Joining SMU’s faculty represented a sort of homecoming. Comini’s ties to SMU run deep. Her mother founded SMU’s Italian language program, her father worked as a commercial photographer near campus, and her younger sister attended SMU.
Now 87, Comini has published eight scholarly books, including The Changing Image of Beethoven: A Study in Mythmaking, a German edition of which appeared for the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth, as well as numerous articles, reviews and chapters in exhibition catalogs and opera booklets.
She was awarded the Grand Cross of Honor by the Republic of Austria for her work on art and music. Comini was honored by the Egon Schiele Museum in 2018.
After retiring, she turned to fiction. She now writes the Megan Crespi mystery series, in which her alter ego investigates crimes in the art and music world. Comini will soon publish her 10th book in the series, and all in the series are being translated into German.
“There is such join in giving to and believing in an institution like SMU. ”
– ALESSANDRA COMINI
Rob Lanier has been named SMU’s head men’s basketball coach. Lanier, who comes to the Hilltop from Georgia State, arrives with more than 30 years as a collegiate coach, including seven seasons as a head coach.
“We are excited to welcome Rob Lanier and his family to Dallas as the head basketball coach at SMU,” Hart says. “Rob is an excellent coach and has been mentored by some of the game’s best in Rick Barnes and Billy Donovan. He and his staff will build upon the success our program has experienced under Coach Brown and Coach Jankovich. As importantly, his character, integrity and commitment to developing our student-athletes as both players and people align with our mission of shaping champions. Our conversations with individuals in the basketball community only reinforced our belief that Rob Lanier is the right leader for SMU basketball.”
Lanier’s former teams have made 12 NCAA Tournaments and earned 19 total postseason bids.
“I couldn’t be more honored to lead the program on the Hilltop,” Lanier says. “SMU’s location in the heart of Dallas, Texas, the beautiful campus, stellar academic reputation and overall commitment to excellence make it the perfect fit for me and my family. I’m excited to get to work and to take this program to the next level.”
Can you smell those roses? There’s a real possibility that the gene that helps you experience their heavenly fragrance may also help you feel the prick of their thorns.
Researchers from SMU have determined that a gene linked to feeling touch may moonlight as an olfactory gene. That’s the conclusion drawn from studying a very small, transparent worm that shares many similarities with the human nervous system.
“This gene has previously been identified as a potential therapeutic target for chronic pain. Now that we know the gene is also involved in olfaction, it might present an opportunity for treating or understanding olfactory defects, such as the mysterious loss of smell that many COVID-19 patients have reported,” says SMU’s Adam D. Norris, co-author of a study published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.
Norris is the Floyd B. James Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. He worked with SMU graduate students Xiaoyu Liang and Canyon Calovich-Benne, who are the lead authors of the study. Both are studying to get a Ph.D. in biological sciences.
Read more.
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Theatre alum’s persistence pays off
If Dylan Guerra ’16 had given up after failing to win playwriting fellowships in New York, he would not be where he is today: authoring a screenplay for a well-known production company and co-writing season three of The Other Two, the HBO satire that hilariously spoofs showbiz and celebrity.
“Perseverance is a massive part of it,” says Guerra by phone during a lunch break from The Other Two writers’ room in New York. “I applied to everything more than once.”
It took three tries to become a member of the prestigious Youngblood group of playwrights at Ensemble Studio Theatre and two each for residencies at Ars Nova and Page 73.
“In about a six-to-eight-month period, I got into three of the highest-profile playwriting fellowships in New York, and that put my name on a bunch of lists,” he says. “I also had a solo show, and there was this organic interest in my work.”
Read more.
Startup founder Mona El-Gharby ’21 won seed funding from SMU’s Big iDeas program three years in a row as a student. D Magazine writes about El-Gharby, founder of CURLē, “a customized haircare company that’s making curls luxurious,” and her entrepreneurial journey in the March 2022 issue.
EXCERPT:
“Take a single strand of your hair and roll it between your fingers with your eyes closed.”
Can you feel it? Is it thin or thick? Is it straight or curly? Odds are, if it’s straight, you’ve never had to think about this before.
But CURLē founder Mona El-Gharby has.
The Egyptian American Dallas native says her classmates used to bully her growing up over her natural hair texture. Her parents had raised her to be confident and elegant, but it was hard to feel that way about her curly hair. Like many other women, she felt her hair wasn’t “professional” or fit European beauty ideals.
And when her peers teased her, El-Gharby didn’t have any celebrities or television characters to point to and say, “these people have beautiful hair, they’re doing great things, they’re representing me.”
Read more.
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Enjoy these quick links to stories and more about the people, programs and events making news on the Hilltop.
- Jerry Pittman ’58 drives brighter future for golf
- SMU alum Brent Renaud ’94 killed while covering war in Ukraine
- Reggie Dupard ’99 honored with Silver Anniversary Mustang Award
- J.-C. Chiao elected to American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
- Senior captures SMU’s first international debate title
- SMU research cut a wide path in 2021
- Grant supports Perkins Baptist House of Studies
- Law school partners with four firms on key initiatives
- Black Lives, Black Letters: Primary Sources in African American History and Literature
SMU Giving Day unites every member of the Mustang community with easy and fun ways to give to our favorite causes and support the SMU Ignited campaign. Watch the spirited video, volunteer to amplify #SMUOneDay as a Champion and decide how you will shape the future March 22.
Learn more.
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Reaching a significant milestone
Thanks to the generosity of the Mustang community, SMU Ignited has garnered more than $800 million in donations, more than halfway toward our $1.5 billion goal. Learn how you can be part of this extraordinary drive to make a positive difference in the world around us.
Rest of story
Elizabeth G. Loboa, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, and Zhong Lu, the Shuler-Foscue Chair in SMU’s Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Loboa and Lu will be inducted into the organization later this year as part of the 2021 class of AAAS Fellows, which includes 564 scientists, engineers and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines who are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.
AAAS Fellows are a distinguished cadre of scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized by their peers in the organization for their achievements across disciplines ranging from research, teaching and technology, to administration in academia, industry and government, to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public.
“Provost Loboa and Dr. Lu are respected scientists and their work and contributions continue to advance SMU as a premier research and teaching university,” says SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “The AAAS recognition from their peers is well deserved, and SMU is fortunate to benefit from their expertise and commitment to excellence in teaching, research and scientific discovery.”
Read more.
BALANCED Media|Technology, in partnership with the Retina Foundation of the Southwest and SMU, has announced a patent-pending medical imaging technology (U.S. Patent Application Serial No.16/538,662) that uses automated software and a video game to provide standardized, accurate and precise identification of ocular diseases including age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of visual impairment in the world.
BALANCED, the Retina Foundation of the Southwest and SMU also signed a 10-year exclusive license, development and commercialization agreement for BALANCED to bring the medical imaging technology to the $35 billion artificial intelligence (AI) health care market.
BALANCED created and crowdsourced an original video game, Eye in the Sky: Defender. The game uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal images embedded in the game’s environment to create human-computational image segmentation. As players predict the path of the alien force in the game, they unknowingly learn to trace lines used to perform diagnostic measurements of OCT retinal scans and create new datasets.
When integrated with BALANCED’s HEWMEN AI platform, these new datasets were used by experts at the Retina Foundation and SMU researchers to provide the information needed to train a machine learning (ML) algorithm to analyze OCT images more accurately and precisely.
“Human and machine collaboration is the next step in machine learning and AI,” says Corey Clark, deputy director of research and assistant professor of computer science and engineering for SMU Guildhall, an assistant professor of Computer Science at SMU Lyle School of Engineering and CTO at BALANCED. “This application is a great example showing how injecting human knowledge and intuition into the machine learning process is able to create something that neither were capable of doing on their own. This is just the first step. I believe we will see many more exciting things come from these collaborations in the future.”
Read more at SMU Research.
SMU’s Dallas Literary Festival is back March 12–22. This annual celebration of writers and literature will feature more than 100 acclaimed national and local authors as well as special events across the city. Authors representing relevant and diverse voices will converge at a series of in-person events on the SMU campus, at Fair Park’s African American Museum and at other locations throughout Dallas.
SMU football great and NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson ’84 will deliver the keynote conversation at noon Saturday, March 19, in Dallas Hall. After a prolific and often contentious career, Dickerson is telling his side of the story in his new book, Watch My Smoke. Capping the day will be the Friends of the SMU Libraries’ Tables of Content fundraiser, featuring the presentation of the 2022 Literati Award to culinary historian Adrian Miller, author of Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. Tickets are required, and proceeds from the event benefit the Friends’ annual grants program.
2020 Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story and recipient of the 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work–Nonfiction, will close the festival at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, at SMU.
The festival’s theme, resilience, was chosen when organizers expected to be looking back at how the country survived the turbulence of 2020 and 2021, says Sanderia Faye Smith, Dallas Literary Festival executive director, SMU creative writing faculty member and author of the award-winning novel, Mourner’s Bench.
“As the festival date approaches, we realize we’re going to need even more resilience to stay the course and not give up,” Smith says. “As Toni Morrison says, ‘During hard times, writers should not remain silent and readers should read, heal, gain knowledge and escape within the pages of a book.’”
While related events begin March 12, the first official festival event is Friday, March 18, featuring National Book Award finalist David Treuer and scholar, poet and author DeMaris Hill. Treuer’s The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is a new narrative that demonstrates how Native Americans have maintained their culture and civilization through dark years. Hill’s Breath Better Spent: Living Black Girlhood is a narrative in verse that takes a personal and historical look at the experience of Black girlhood. Treuer and Hill will speak at 7 p.m. at SMU’s McCord Auditorium in Dallas Hall.
Two full days of author panel discussions, readings and interviews follow, March 19 and 20, with national award winners, memoirists, scholars, romance writers, poets, historical fiction writers and authors of gems you might not have heard of yet, but soon will.
Unless otherwise noted, events are free and open to the public.
Among the highlights:
Saturday, March 19, Dallas Hall, SMU
- Novelist Nathan Harris, author of The Sweetness of Water, Oprah’s June 2021 Book Club pick.
- Joaquin Zihuatenejo, National Poetry Slam finalist and Grand Slam Spoken Word champion.
- W. Bruce Cameron, author of the New York Times bestselling triology, A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Way Home and A Dog’s Courage.
- Long-form narrative writer Catherine Prendergast, author of The Gilded Edge, named by Artnet as one of top 20 books about art in 2021.
Sunday, March 20, African American Museum, Fair Park
- Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, which was a 2021 Good Morning America Buzz Pick and named one of the best books of 2021 by Barack Obama, The Washington Post and NPR.
- Elisa Dusapin, author of Winter in Sokcho, 2021 National Book Award winner for translated literature.
- Scholar and commentator Jelani Cobb, author of The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from The New Yorker.
- Culinary historian Adrian Miller, author of Black Smoke.
- Daniel Black, author of Don’t Cry for Me, February 2022 Book of the Month selection.
Additional related events include:
- Saturday, March 12: South Dallas Cultural Center will present a women’s poetry workshop.
- Tuesday, March 15–Tuesday, March 22: Dallas Public Library will host a series of in-person and online events supporting the Dallas Literary Festival, including craft and story-making projects, readings, a Shakespeare Adventure Walk and writing workshops.
- Monday, March 21: SMU’s Tate Lecture Series will present biographer Walter Isaacson. Tickets required.
Find more information at Dallas Literary Festival.
SMU’s Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex was the venue for the inaugural Dallas Open February 6–13. With Dallas and SMU hosting the only ATP Tour indoor championship held in the U.S., Mustangs got the opportunity to take part in the event. All four SMU student-athletes faced off with featured players ranked inside the world’s top 200 in singles or doubles.
Caleb Chakravarthi ’22, Liam Crall ’24, Adam Neff ’24 and graduate student Ivan Thamma went toe to toe with top players and came away with a new perspective.
While the match was tough, the overall experience is one Chakravarthi came to relish.
“Watching a few of the matches and practicing with the guys has motivated me to try and achieve greatness in tennis. Being with these pros you see how small the margins are and the differences between a college tennis player and a pro,” Chakravarthi says. “It definitely has motivated me to be the best tennis player I can and has motivated me to play professional tennis after my time at SMU.”
Read more at SMU Athletics.
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Placing neighborhoods in focus
SMU researchers combined street-level investigations with the University’s supercomputer power to reveal infrastructure deserts. Their study lays the groundwork for improving neighborhoods.
Residents of a neglected corner of southeast Dallas daily navigate crumbling sidewalks, pothole-riddled streets and neglected intersections. Few trees shade their streets, and the lack of access to basic services like internet, health care and grocery stores isolates them within a thriving city. Like residents of 61 other Dallas neighborhoods, they live in an infrastructure desert.
What are infrastructure deserts? Why do they matter?
Those two questions get to the heart of a multiyear research project led by SMU’s Barbara Minsker, a nationally recognized expert in environmental and infrastructure systems analysis.
To find answers, Zheng Li, a Ph.D. student in civil and environmental engineering, and other team members created a computer framework with the ability to assess, at census-block level, 12 types of infrastructure. Neighborhoods were evaluated and compared by infrastructure deficiency, household income and ethnicity.
“This framework enables us to collect data from a huge variety of sources, then analyze the patterns that emerge to discover new information that can be used by scientists, policymakers and residents to improve their neighborhoods,” Li says.
Read more.
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Breaking out on her own
From a very early age, Lacey A. Horn ’04, ’05 knew she wanted to use her talents on behalf of her tribe. The former treasurer of the Cherokee Nation now serves as a strategy and financial consultant to tribal leaders as CEO of Native Advisory and heads Horn CPA, a niche cryptocurrency consultancy.
Rest of story
Six big games come to Ford Stadium this fall, highlighted by the Battle for the Iron Skillet against TCU September 24 during Family Weekend and a matchup with 2021 CFP participant and AAC Champion Cincinnati October 22 during SMU Homecoming.
Rest of story
Categories
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Enjoy these quick links to stories and more about the people, programs and events making news on the Hilltop.
- Leading the future of SMU data science
- Mustangs in the wild: Meet Malcolm McGuire ’14
- Ashlee Kleinert ’88 named to Governor’s Commission for Women
- March 22: Meadows at the Meyerson benefits scholarship fund
- Twins reunited for one more year of SMU basketball
- Three Mustangs invited to NFL Combine
- Brierley Institute: Celebrating five years of growth
A $50 million commitment from the Garry Weber Foundation, established by former Mustang football letterman Garry A. Weber ’58, is the largest gift in the history of SMU Athletics and supports a $100 million drive for a new 192,500-square-foot Garry Weber End Zone Complex at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
The Garry Weber Foundation’s gift continues an exciting new era for Mustang football and SMU as part of the University’s recently announced $1.5 billion campaign, SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow. With the drive, SMU Athletics will reach a new milestone, having invested $250 million to develop and enhance championship-caliber athletic facilities across campus.
The new Garry Weber End Zone Complex will anchor Ford Stadium’s south bowl that will connect the stadium’s existing east and west gate entries. The three levels of the new complex will increase the functionality, efficiency and overall experience of Mustang football for student-athletes and fans, as well as inspire interest and investments in athletics across SMU’s campus.
Read more.
This spring, SMU will break ground on the Holt Hickman Outdoor Pool, the newest addition to the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center made possible by lead gifts from the Robson, Hickman and Lindley families. Once completed, the project will establish the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center as the only U.S. university facility with both indoor and outdoor Olympic pools.
The Holt Hickman Outdoor Pool will include an eight-lane, 50-meter-by-25-yard outdoor pool, 1- and 3-meter diving boards and a 20-by-40-foot instructional pool for lessons and rehab/therapy. Other amenities feature a locker room facility – accessible from both the indoor and outdoor pools – including an indoor dryland training area, which will specifically benefit the SMU diving program. Exterior showers and a decorative overhang to provide shade will complete the project.
This outdoor pool addition will be a hub of community engagement and help SMU attract local and national swimming and water polo events to SMU and the city of Dallas.
Read more.
So far, 124 Mustangs who lived it have been interviewed for Black History at SMU, part of the Voices of SMU oral history project. Voices of SMU is among hundreds of projects, causes and organizations you can support on SMU Giving Day March 22.
Voices of SMU is a collaboration between students, alumni and entities across campus to diversify the SMU Archives’ holdings. With Voices of SMU, undergraduate research assistants conduct oral history interviews with SMU alumni from underrepresented groups. The oral histories are made available online in the SMU Libraries Digital Collections.
The interviews document not only the history of the University, but Texas as well, including the desegregation of higher education, the experiences of African American and Latinx University students, and Black and Brown student activism in Texas. They speak to growing up in Dallas’ Little Mexico; post-World War II African American community-building in places such as Hamilton Park, Dallas; studying as an undocumented student; organizing as minority seminarians and student activists; and shaping Texas’s churches, social ministries, and business communities upon graduation.
Read more.
Neha Husein ’19 launched the Just Drive app as an SMU student. Recently she captured the top prize in the WEDallas inaugural pitch competition for ZStash, an innovative platform promoting sustainability by helping wholesalers and boutique owners destash inventory.
Husein’s latest venture, ZStash, is a free website and mobile app designed for wholesalers and boutique owners to buy, sell and destash inventory on an all-in-one, secure platform. Prior to creating Zstash, Husein founded Just Drive, an app that rewards undistracted driving that she created after she was rear-ended by a driver who was texting.
For her triumph, Husein was awarded a $1,500 microgrant from Capital One.
WEDallas is a partnership between the DEC Network and Capital One.
Sienna Dugan ’20 came to SMU wanting to make an impact in global health care. Through Engaged Learning and other projects supported each year by Mustangs on SMU Giving Day, she gained experience that helped her dream come true. Today she helps run a free medical and dental clinic in Honduras. Join with thousands of other Mustangs to support the projects, causes and organizations you care about on SMU Giving Day March 22.
More details about our 24-hour giving challenge will be coming soon.
In the meantime, learn more about SMU Engaged Learning.
The new Black/Africana Church Studies program in the Perkins School of Theology aims to prepare students for innovative and impactful leadership in the Black church, the academy and the world while providing opportunities for the entire SMU community to learn about the origins, development and diversity of the Black church tradition.
“The program will critically explore Black theology, Black Biblical studies and interpretation, history, pastoral theology, preaching, worship, religious education, ethics, and other practices in conjunction with African American, African and other African diasporic churches, nonprofit organizations and social justice ministries,” says Tamara Lewis, assistant professor of the history of Christianity and program director.
An overall goal of the program is to improve campus quality of life for members of the SMU Black community, starting with a biennial survey of the campus climate as seen through the eyes of students, faculty and staff.
The Black/Africana Church Studies program will offer a range of opportunities and activities designed to enrich the educational, cultural and communal experiences of Black students at Perkins School and the Graduate Program in Religious Studies as well as the broader SMU community.
Read more at Perkins School.
The U.S. Department of Education’s FY 2021 Education Innovation and Research Competition awarded Professor Leanne Ketterlin Geller an $8 million grant to enhance instructional practices to meet the high needs of students experiencing math difficulties in grades 4-8.
Read more at Simmons School.
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A camera that sees around corners
Researchers at SMU and Northwestern University are using new technology that enables cameras to record high-resolution images and holograms of objects that are hidden around corners, obscured from view and/or beyond the line of sight.
Called Synthetic Wavelength Holography, the technology computationally transforms real-word surfaces such as walls into illumination and imaging portals, which serve to indirectly illuminate the hidden objects and intercept the tiny fraction of light scattered by the hidden objects.
Capturing images through fog, face identification around corners and imaging through barriers like the human skull are potential applications for the technology, detailed in a study published in Nature Communications.
The technology has defense, hazard identification and medical applications.
Read more at SMU Research.
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Enjoy these quick links to some of the great stories, photos and more featuring the people, programs and events making news on the Hilltop.
- Photos: Coming together to serve the community
- Selections from the Jessica and Kelvin Beachum Family Collection
- March 22: Meadows at the Meyerson to benefit scholarships
- Mustangs remain perfect at Moody Coliseum
- Perkins School to livestream midday chapel worship services
- Applause for these Dedman College faculty award winners
- Jay Mandyam ’07, ’08 remembers friend Bob Saget
- Mustang Strong: SMU COVID-19 updates
SMU alumnus Kelvin Beachum ’10, ’12 is a decade into his NFL career, including the last two seasons with the Cardinals. But in those 10 years, Beachum has never failed to put into motion his parents’ lessons of giving back. He was named the Cardinals’ Walter Payton Man of the Year and is now among 32 players vying to become the NFL’s Man of the Year. But such an honor is merely a detail in a life built on such service.
The oldest of four siblings in Mexia, Texas, Beachum grew up in a family hovering around the national poverty level.
His father, Kelvin Beachum, Sr., worked on cars for a living. His mother, Culetta, worked for Mexia State School in Limestone County.
The family didn’t have a lot of money, but Kelvin Jr. never knew their situation since his parents shielded him from that reality. More importantly, Beachum’s parents – even if they had to struggle financially – made sure their children understood the importance of helping others.
Read more at Arizona Cardinals.
Environmental science major Isabelle Galko ’22 is one of just 41 American university students – and the only student from a Texas university – named a 2022 Marshall Scholar.
Galko will use the two-year scholarship to further her studies on climate and policymaking at both Oxford and Durham Universities in England.
From the beaches of Australia to the bayous of Louisiana, she finds her inspiration in the places where water meets land. The Austin native spent part of her childhood in Australia, where she learned to love snorkeling near the coral reefs, then studied abroad on the North Island of New Zealand and conducted research on the sinking wetlands of southern Louisiana.
“My personal experiences spark my drive to make a difference, but approaching environmental issues from the public policy perspective gives me hope of affecting change,” Galko says. “As a Marshall Scholar, I plan to use my time in the UK to link science with effective policy and gain a British perspective for future policymaking.”
Read more.
After a decade of working for others in the world of aviation, SMU alumni and brothers Stuart Edenfield ’07 and Curtis Edenfield ’09 founded Thrive Aviation. Read the story of how they got their jet charter company off the ground and why family matters.
Read more at SMU Alumni.
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Volunteer to call admitted students
When it comes to telling the stories of student life, alumni are SMU’s best ambassadors. Mustangs are needed to talk with admitted students. Answer general questions, share your experiences or just convey your congratulations.
Mustangs never back down from a challenge. That’s why we’re joining together to address the Hilltop’s immediate needs while continuing to ignite the future. Your annual support will make a world of difference.
Make your gift now.
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Engineering student finds her ‘yes’
Mechanical engineering major Hannah Clark ’23 is interning at NASA – her second stint with the space agency – where she’s working on a challenge for other students. The journey has taught her not to fear failure and to shoot for the stars.Read the story.
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Studying the impact of youth sports
SMU and Children’s Health through its Children’s Health Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine are launching a collaboration dedicated to leveraging the transformational power of sports to improve the health, activity levels and well-being of kids. The Youth Sports Impact Partnership, a unique university-hospital relationship, will use an evidence-based approach to improve access to youth sports, prevent injury and share age-appropriate training and development practices.
The partnership will feature the expertise of James Andrews, founder and director of the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, and SMU biomechanist Peter Weyand, who directs the Locomotor Performance Lab in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development – both internationally renowned for their work with athletes across a spectrum of ages and abilities.
Read more at SMU Research.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had already won the Nobel Peace Prize when he spoke before a standing-room-only audience in SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium March 17, 1966. Each year, SMU honors the life and legacy of the slain civil rights leader with special Dream Week events.
SMU’s Office of Social Change and Intercultural Engagement (SCIE) invites everyone to join these Dream Week events:
Wednesday, January 19
Unity Circle
A celebration and reflection of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Noon to 1 p.m.
Main Quad flagpole
Friday, January 21
Screening of the award-winning film, Selma.
6 p.m.
Hughes-Trigg Student Center
Saturday, January 22
Day of service honors Dr. King’s life of service by lending a hand to local nonprofits.
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom A/B
Learn more about Dr. King’s visit to SMU.
Follow SMU SCIE on Instagram.
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Enjoy these quick links to some of the great stories, photos and more featuring the people, programs and events making news on the Hilltop.
- Photos: Congratulations, December graduates!
Brian Stump tapped to chair TexNet committee - Women’s soccer ranked #21 in nation
- Meet George Baker, organist and dermatologist
- Law student leads national student group
- Dallas Morning News: Studying theology without choosing a sides
- Mustang Strong: SMU COVID-19 updates