STAFF MOVING

Laura Del Rio - satellite office in California

Birthdays

Kathy Rowe - Dec. 3

Charmissa Ajakaije - Dec. 10

Mitzie Goff - Dec. 16

Kelly Milazzo - Dec. 18

Courtney Barrett - Dec. 18

Laura Del Rio - Dec. 19

Cheryl Moore - Dec. 20

Stanley Stubblefield - Dec. 25

Shannon Grandberry - Dec. 26

Charles Harper - 50 years of service!

Anna Gomez - 11 years

Cate Hamilton - 1 year

December 13, 2008 marked the eighteenth graduation event in December.  What  began as a small recognition of undergraduate students in 1991, has grown to a formal graduation ceremony including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.  For the second year the ceremony was held in Moody Coliseum in order to provide adequate seating for graduates and their family and friends. 

As President Turner remarked in his Graduation Address, in December the university confers approximately twice as many graduate and professional degrees as undergraduate degrees.  This is the opposite from May graduation which undergraduate degrees are conferred in greater numbers.

This December there were 995 candidates for graduation -- 366 undergraduate and 629 graduate and professional.  Two hundred twenty-two undergraduates and 322 graduate and professional candidates participated in the ceremony.  This included 8 PhD and 3 Doctor of Engineering students.

This ceremony also celebrated the 18 years of service for Chief Marshall Brad Carter.  Professor Carter, a member of the Political Science faculty, steps down from his post after this event.  During the ceremony, Dr. Turner recognized Chief Marshall Carter's contribution to academic ceremonies, presented him with a magnificent photograph, and named him Chief Marshall emeritus.

Joe Papari and Online Orientation Registration Project Team - Every possible thanks and congratulations for the work (Joe Papari, Monica Cordero, Pam Fincher, Anel Reyna, Stephen Forrest, Ginger Oravsky, Barbara Mohrle, Missy Bryant and Carol Porter) are doing on the ACCESS.SMU registration and orientation project !! Vicki Hill, Director of A-LEC

Mitzie Goff and Transfer Team - I just wanted to let you all know that students I have been working with have already commented on the ease and helpfulness of the new site.  THANK YOU.  Hilary McIlvain, Admission

SMU Honors Charles Harper

In a time of instant messaging, texting, remote control everything, and video games that entertain with spit second images, new professionals see each job as the launching pad to the next.  That has not been the career of Charles Harper.

Charles H. Harper joined the staff of SMU on December 9, 1958.  Before coming to the Hilltop, Charles was  honorably discharged from the U. S. Armed Services and worked briefly for a company in downtown Dallas, .

During Charles' 50 years of service, SMU has evolved into the institution we see today.  Nineteen fifty-eight was just four years after Willis Tate assumed the Presidency of SMU.  Charles gave witness to what are called "the Tate Years."  SMU had a budget of $4.5 million, assets of $30 million, and an endowment of $6 million.  With the launch of Sputnik in 1959, all universities began to wrestle with the role of technology in their curriculum.  SMU was no different, but in 1962, SMU decided it did not want to be the next Cal Tech and embarked on President Tate's creation of a Master Plan.

Quietly under President Tate's SMU changed.  The student body became more diverse, the curriculum reinforced a liberal education, and the physical plant grew.  Between 1956 and 1965, all of the undergraduate Residence Hall were built as well as the Owens Arts Center and Heroy Hall.  During this time, John Kennedy was killed in Dallas and students began to protest the Vietnam War.

Five more university presidents have worked with Charles.  Many of them presiding over turbulent years of football scandals, economic challenges, and reinvention.  Charles has been asked to move from position to position as the university needed his skills in different places.  Charles accepted each new challenge and gave his best.

Pat Woods, who has worked with Charles throughout her long tenure at SMU, remarks -- "I will ask Charles if something can be done.  He may reply at the time, 'no'.  But within a short time, he calls me with how he can solve the problem."  That is the gift that Charles is to SMU.

Thank you, Charles and may you continue to be a part of the SMU community for many more years.

History is from "High on the Hilltop" by Marsh Terry.

Comments are Coming!
Comments are Coming!

Academic Schools and Departments will soon be able to view & enter comments on their students. Comments related to advising, probation, suspension, dismissal, Program Actions, Plan changes, etc, may be entered, and viewed within ACCESS.SMU.  (For example, comments entered would take the place of any note you now place in the student’s manila folder.)

ACCESS.SMU includes delivered functionality for entering comments on students. All of the comments fall under the same heading of “advising and records”. However, comment categories will be separated by each graduate school, and one for all undergraduates. Therefore, undergraduate comments will be shared across schools, while graduate comments are mutually exclusive.

The ability to enter and view comments is controlled within these categories. One user may have access to only the UG category, and so can see all UG comments while another user may have access to only the GR THEO category. That being said, users may have access to multiple comment categories for example, GR COX and GR LAW.

Furthermore, entering and viewing comments may be assigned independently. A user may be able to only view UG comments, but not enter any. A user may be able to view & enter GR COX comments, but only view GR LAW comments.

Please join us in one of the two scheduled information sessions on “Student Records Comments in ACCESS.SMU” for more details on this functionality during which will we be personally available to address any of your questions and concerns:

Session #1:  Wednesday, December 17, 08
Session #2:  Thursday, December 18, 08

9:00 AM- 10AM Blanton Meeting Room 112
2:00 PM-3:00 PM Blanton Meeting Room 112

Question
What is a disputation?

Enrollment Services Highlights

New Veterans Website

Veterans information on Registrar website!  The Registrar website has recently been updated with some information for Veterans who wish to use their GI Bill benefits at SMU.  They just need to click on the “Veterans Affairs” link.  This informs new and continuing students what they need to submit to the Veterans Administration (VA) and to the Registrar’s Office.  It also tells them how to contact VA.  Please direct students to this website or they may also contact Mitzie Goff.

Early Action Admission Decisions
in the Mail

In college admission, more students are requesting Early Action on their application for admission.  SMU has seen the number of students in our Early Action pool increase in number and quality.  This year the review process began before Thanksgiving and continued through a long day on Wednesday in order to honor the mailing deadline of December 11th.  Students not receiving early admission may be considered in the spring admission process.

Retention Committee announces
Leave of Absence

Spring Enrollment Looking Good

The Enrollment unit of the Registrar's Office is showing an increase in enrollment as of December 9th.  Both undergraduate and graduate/professional enrollment is up over the same time last year.  Graduate/Professional enrollment is up 10.7%, undergraduate enrollment is up 3.5%, and total enrollment is up 5.9%

Undergraduate students are taking advantage of the many payment plans offered for spring 2009.  As of December 11th, 919 students have enrolled in one of 5 plans.

The Howard Lantern introduced at December Graduation, serves as a reminder of the traditions which make up SMU's life and of the light of learning and intellectual curiosity which shines within the students, faculty and staff at SMU.  The lantern is dedicated to Professor Lorn Lambier Howard, Chief Marshall emeritus of SMU from 1978 to 1987.  It honors his role in shaping the traditions and protocol of SMU's modern-day academic ceremonies.  The lantern symbolizes the Rotunda of Dallas Hall, the centerpiece of our campus, and is engraved with the university motto and alma mater.  (from December Ceremony Program - Thomas Arp and Lorn Howard)