Community Partnerships

SMU’s schools, departments, and units work in partnerships with over 50 community service agencies, in areas including education, juvenile justice, nonprofit development, museums and artistic performance groups, human rights advocacy, and civic services.


  • UT-Southwestern Medical School and SMU.
    SMU engages in a number of collaborations with Southwestern Medical School. These include: the Annual Conference on the Professions, for which SMU and Southwestern Medical School are two of the five sponsors; creative writing competition for medical students; co-sponsorship of numerous conferences and grand rounds; and collaboration with Southwestern’s Program in Ethics in Science and Medicine.

  • North Texas Bioethics Network.
    North Texas Bioethics Network brings together bioethics scholars from diverse academic and practice-based backgrounds from institutions all across North Texas.

  • Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture.
    Collaboration on lecture series.

  • Center for Child and Community Development (CCCD) partnerships.
    The Center for Child and Community Development within the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development partners with various nonprofit organizations aimed at community and family development, such as DFW International and Dallas Concilio. The CCCD is open to new partnerships and collaborations that will facilitate its mission to assist children from diverse communities. For more information, contact cccd@smu.edu.

  • Big Thought.
    Big Thought was first established in 1987 as Young Audiences of Greater Dallas. Since that time, the organization has developed as a learning partnership for inspiring, empowering, and uniting children and communities through education, arts and culture. The “big thought” is that a community, working together, can lift children up and better their lives using arts and culture as tools and catalysts. Meadows School of the Arts has engaged in several projects in conjunction with Big Thought.

Other arrangements between SMU and community agencies and nonprofits

Through arrangements between SMU and many community agencies and nonprofits; SMU students regularly contribute to the community and enhance their own learning and growth. The following are some of the community agencies and nonprofits with which SMU has agreements for service-learning or public service internships.

  • Advocacy, Inc.
  • African American Museum
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • Arlington Park Elementary School
  • Attorney General of Texas—Child Support
  • Attorney General of Texas—Consumer Protection
  • Better Business Bureau
  • Bonham Elementary School
  • Catholic Charities
  • Celestino Soto Elementary School
  • Central Dallas Ministries
  • Cesar Chavez Learning Center
  • Collin County District Attorney—Family Justice Division
  • Court Appointed Special Advocates
  • Dallas City Attorney’s Office—Code Compliance
  • Dallas City Attorney’s Office—Community Prosecution
  • Dallas City Attorney’s Office—Domestic Violence Unit
  • Dallas City Attorney’s Office—Environmental Compliance
  • Dallas City Attorney’s Office—Child Abuse Division
  • Dallas Community Lighthouse
  • Dallas County Juvenile Department
  • Dallas County Public Defender’s Office
  • Dallas Kids Project
  • David G. Burnet Elementary School
  • Dispute Mediation Service, Inc.
  • Federal Public Defender
  • Group Excellence
  • Hilliard School
  • Housing Crisis Center
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc.
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Lakewood Elementary School
  • Lambda Legal
  • Legal Hospice of Texas
  • Liberty Legal Institute
  • Medisend
  • Mosaic Family Services
  • Obidiah Knight Elementary School
  • Project Transformation
  • Quintanilla Middle School
  • Senior Citizens of Dallas—Nursing Home Ombudsman Program
  • United States Attorney Office
  • Wilkinson Center
  • Youth Services Council of Richardson Independent School District (RISD)
  • Women’s Museum