“Universities do not grow old; but yearly they renew their
strength and live from age to age in immortal youth.”
With that statement in 1913, SMU’s first president, Robert Stewart Hyer, made a commitment for SMU in his time, but affirmed that we would be a university for all time.
Reflecting that vision, SMU has built upon its initial offerings in the liberal arts as the core of the University along with programs in theology and music. We have remained young and nimble in developing professional education to serve a changing region, nation and world, adding programs in the sciences, business, engineering, law, communications and other applied areas of learning. Today, part of SMU’s uniqueness comes from the fusion of our liberal arts core with pre-professional and professional programs through our seven schools.
We celebrated this tradition of looking forward as we marked the 100th anniversary of SMU’s founding April 15. At a briefing that day, I shared a wealth of good news with our alumni and friends:
- Cox School of Business is one of the few in the nation to have three M.B.A. programs ranked in the top 15 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
- Dedman School of Law ranks among the nation’s top 50 law schools in U.S. News & World Report.
- In another ranking, our Ph.D. program in theology and religion, offered jointly by Perkins School of Theology and the Department of Religious Studies in Dedman College, is ranked number nine in faculty quality.
- The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching raised SMU to its category of research universities with “high research activity.”
- Innovative programs in Meadows School of the Arts and Lyle School of Engineering are providing new opportunities for learning combined with service.
- The new Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development speaks volumes about SMU’s commitment to making an impact on societal issues.
- And The Second Century Campaign has surpassed $500 million at mid-point, making possible many of the improvements we celebrate today.
You’ll read in this magazine the many ways in which we are saying Happy Birthday, SMU. We pledge to remain “in eternal youth” as we move into our second century of achievement.
R. Gerald Turner