NEW STAFF STAFF LEAVING
STAFF PROMOTIONS Birthdays
Hilary McIlvain - October 7th
Lori Atkinson - October 9th
Barbara Waters - October 10th
Nada El-sayed - October 11th
Stan Eddy - October 15th
Nicole Cotton - October 24th
Veronica Decena - October 25th
Melissa Stanford - October 26th
Sharla Coursey - October 26th
Vitoria Rae October 27th
Colleen Franklin - October 30th
Joe Davis - October 30th
Marc Peterson - October 31st
Laura Del Rio - 16 years! Cara Hendricks - 6 years Penny
Griffin - 5 years Walter Jimenez - 3 years Yaw Bonsu - 3
years Alan Ramirez - 1 year Courtney Barrett - 1 year Staff Association Holds Eighth Annual Staff Recognition
Ceremony It has become a tradition at SMU for Staff to be recognized
for 25 years of service to the university on the Tuesday of Fall Break.
October 14th, 2008 seven staff member were inducted into the 25 Club, six other
could not be present. The new 25 year staff recognized at the ceremony
were: Lydia Dale, SAMSA; Lisa Montes, Legal Clinic; Dee Powell, Cox School
of Business; Sherry Reinwald, Financial Aid; Rhonda Rompola, Women's Basketball
Head Coach; Jim Stillson, Men's and Women's Diving Coach; and Billie Stoval,
Central University Libraries. The event, held in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center begins
with a reception and the Ceremony follows. The new 25 year staff received
a pin and a compact disc from Provost Paul Ludden and Staff Association
President John Hall. The recipient of the Loretta Hawkins Award is
recognized as well. This year Tracy Allred from the Perkins School of
Theology received the award and Carl Touchstone from Mail Services was recognized
as the finalist. The ceremony also included a Keynote address by Dr. Jose
Bowen, Dean of the Meadows School of the Arts. Dean Bowen also selected
the compact disc - Somethin' Easy for the 25 year staff. He
used the jazz group featured on the CD as a metaphor for the work of the staff. A new addition to the Ceremony was recognition of staff
receiving the M Award for 2008. Karen Click, Director of the Women's
Center, Dawn Norris, Associate Director of SAMSA, Ellen Pryor, Associate
Provost, and Chief Richard Shafer, SMU Police were congratulated.
Anniversaries
VIPs -
Very Important Ponies
Student Financial Operations Refund Group - The Refund Group did a super job this last term. This is an accomplishment and I want to give praise and recognition to all that helped out during this season. - Financial Aid Staff
Sherry Reinwald - was recognized at the Staff Recognition Ceremony for her 25 years of service to SMU and the Financial Aid area. Congratulations, Sherry!
Tough love may help students in their future.
In the current economic situation in the United States there seems to be blame for everyone – from Walls Street to Main Street, as the commentators say. Focusing on the mortgage lending business, the exclamation is, “Who let people borrow more than they could ever pay back?” At the time, there was excitement about the number of families buying homes who never thought they could. The euphoria has been replaced by despondency as the interest rates go up, the value of their home goes down, and the families have no way to get out from under the debt.
SMU Student Financial Services is charged with collecting tuition and fees from enrolled student each term. Over 75% of our students receive some form of financial assistance to help cover their educational costs . . . some of which is in the form of loans. Eighty percent of our students are able by mixing financial aid, family contributions, work, and other income to pay for their education at the time it is due. The other twenty percent have some gap between the cost and their available funds on the Payment Due Date. After the Financial Aid staff has done all they can do, the Student Financial Services staff offers many different payment plans, payment options, and counseling for our students and their families.
University Bursar Pat Woods reflects that her office has been concerned about the debts our students accumulate while they are at SMU for a number of years. Grants and scholarships only go so far and then students rely on loans. SMU feels these loans; many from the Federal Government are a good investment that allows our students to get a wonderful education. Our students do well in the marketplace and repay their loans after graduation. However, students who have costs above their resources, pile on additional debt that may be more difficult to retire.
SMU does not allow students with outstanding balances to enroll in any classes until the balance is resolved. As painful as that is at the time, it helps students pay as they go to school – not defer their costs that are stacked on top of their loan obligations after graduation. The “Tough Love” practiced by the Student Financial Services staff works with students counseling them away from continuing to incur charges that they cannot pay. Student Financial Services wants every student to graduate from SMU but with the potential to prosper, not under the burden of debt that limits his or her opportunities.
New 25 year inductees
with
Provost Ludden and Dean Bowen
Loretta
Hawkins Award Recipients
Tracy Allred and Carl Touchstone with Provost Ludden
and Dean Bowen
Important Dates
Quotation of the Month
SMU Trivia
Question
Answer
On-line Course Evaluation The On-line
Course Evaluation process using Access.smu and Blackboard is expanding! It
first began in fall 2007, a joint effort between Blackboard support team,
For
non-compliant students instead of the grade(s) displaying, a symbol (three
asterisks) would
appear with the message, “***Course Evaluation needs to be completed to view
grade. Click here (student is taken to Blackboard).” Also, the URL links for
eDPR and Unofficial Transcript, displayed on the Student Center, were hidden if
an evaluation was not completed. As the evaluations were completed, the grades
would appear immediately. When all evaluations were completed, the URL links (eDPR
and Unofficial Transcript) also reappeared. Posted grades, however, were
available for administrative use in determining satisfactory progress. Due to successfully
implementing the Meadows initiative, undergraduate business courses and four
departments in Dedman College, Economics, English, Mathematics, and Statistics,
will join Meadows for fall 2008. Blanton Celebrates 5 Year and Epi Ramirez
Remembrance The weekend of October 31st is the
5th anniversary of the dedication of the Blanton Building after Enrollment Services,
the International Center, SMU-in-Taos, and ITS moved in. The week of
November 3, Blanton will have a Birthday Party at which the bench for Epi
Ramirez Remembrance will be dedicated. If you would like to contribute to the
Epi Ramirez Remembrance Fund please go to www. www.smu.edu/giving or send
your check to Gift Administration at SMU Box 402. Be sure to indicate this
is for the Epi Ramirez Remembrance Fund - 01479.
November 5th
Division Meeting
Nov. 3 - Spring enrollment begins
Nov. 5 - Last
day to drop
Nov. 20 - Last Day to withdraw
Dec. 5 -
Last day of instruction
Dec. 8-13 - Final examinations
Dec. 13 - December Graduation
Dec. 22-26 - Holiday Break
Jan. 1&2 - New Year's Holiday
Jan. 19 -
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Jan. 20 - First day of class
The future belongs to the
things that can grow, whether it is a tree or democracy.
Kenneth D. Johnson
76.
James Brooks is the most senior staff member, having worked at SMU
for 56 years. Charles Harper is celebrating his 50th year at SMU. Six
other staff have 40 or more years at SMU.