Category: October 2021

SMU mourns the loss of Mark A. Roglán, renowned director of the University’s Meadows Museum, to cancer October 5. His death at the age of 50 comes on the heels of the recent 20th anniversary of his leadership of the institution, the foremost center in the United States for exhibition, research and education in the arts and culture of Spain.
A public memorial service is pending.
“Under Mark Roglán’s dynamic leadership, the Meadows Museum has become one of SMU’s brightest beacons,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “Through his unflagging devotion, energy and intellect, Mark built a prestigious museum and collection that brings great honor to the vision of its founder, Algur Meadows. Mark leaves behind a profound legacy.”
The museum tripled attendance, developed a major program of international exhibitions and made major acquisitions nearly doubling the permanent collection of Spanish art under his guidance. His tenure at the helm of the museum was marked by major institutional milestones: the construction of a new sculpture garden and outdoor spaces, the prolific publication of insightful research, the creation of meaningful fellowships and accessible educational programs. His leadership was characterized by the formation of strategic alliances with many of the world’s most prestigious arts organizations–including national museums in the US, UK, a number of European countries, and especially Spain.
Read more.

To SMU math curriculum researcher Candace Walkington, the best way for students to understand math is to make it part of their lives. She’ll use her recent $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help students see that math is in the angle of a giraffe’s neck at the Dallas Zoo and in the flutter of the leaves of the cottonwood trees at Twelve Hills Nature Center in Oak Cliff.
These are just two of the stops on Dallas STEM walks, guided walks that illustrate how mathematical principles can be found in one’s surroundings. During the five-year grant, Walkington will partner with Dallas STEM walk nonprofit, talkSTEM, to better understand how educators can support math education outside of school and the role out-of-school experiences like these play in enhancing math education. First up: developing an app that turns a cell phone into an interpretive math tool.
“In this research, rather than having kids see math as symbols that exist on a worksheet or on a computer screen, we want them to see it as something that exists in the world all around them – the trees, the buildings, the artwork and the things they use every day,” says Walkington, associate professor of teaching and learning at SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development. “We want to help them to look at the world through the lens of math.”
Read more at SMU Research.