Caren Prothro has provided leadership and support for civic initiatives contributing to Dallas' rise as an international center for business and culture, including SMU's growth as a global educational and research institution.

Mrs. Prothro has served as chair of the SMU Board of Trustees since 2010. She has been a member of the Board since 1992 and served as vice chair from 1996-2000. She serves as a co-chair of SMU’s Second Century Campaign and its Campaign Leadership Council. Mrs. Prothro also is a longtime civic leader who helped spearhead the development of the Dallas Arts District and has served on the boards of numerous arts and philanthropic organizations as well as corporations. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

During her tenure as SMU Board chair, Mrs. Prothro has emphasized the importance of reaching the University’s stated goal of having 100 endowed faculty positions and attracting nationally recognized experts to enhance SMU’s reputation as a center for research and scholarship. She also has focused on drawing increased funding for merit-based scholarships that enable SMU to draw top students nationally and gaining support for major campus enhancements.

Mrs. Prothro, along with her late husband, C. Vincent (Vin) Prothro, has been a generous donor to SMU, supporting the Department of Biological Sciences of the Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, the Perkins School of Theology and the Meadows School of the Arts. She and her husband continued a long-standing tradition of SMU support from the Perkins-Prothro family of Wichita Falls. That tradition includes Mr. Prothro’s parents, Charles and Elizabeth Perkins Prothro, and his grandparents, Joe and Lois Perkins, who endowed the SMU theology school in the early 1940s and funded six buildings for the school, including Perkins Chapel.

Mrs. Prothro’s community leadership positions include having served for nine years as vice chair of the AT&T Performing Arts Center Board of Directors and as a past chair of the Center’s Development Committee. She also serves on the boards of the Dallas Salvation Army and the Hoblitzelle Foundation. She has served on the boards of the Dallas Museum of Art, J.P. Morgan-Chase Bank of Texas, the Visiting Nurse Association, the YWCA, the YMCA, and as chair of the Dallas Foundation Board.

Mrs. Prothro, a graduate of Mills College, has been honored for her leadership with numerous awards, including the Robert Dedman Award for Philanthropy, the Ruth Sharp Altshuler Award presented by the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, the Linz Award for community service, the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award, the TACA Neiman Marcus Silver Cup Award, the Annette G. Strauss Humanitarian Award and the William B. Travis State of Texas Award for Volunteerism.