SMU Women's Symposium

        Save the Date!

        March 3, 2010
          
        45th Annual Women's Symposium
                            Southern Methodist University
                       Hughes-Trigg Student Center - Ballroom


                Answers Empower:
               You Can Ask the Questions!

                                                      
 

In the Series The Education of Women for Social and Political Leadership

Created in 1966 as part of the University’s 50th Anniversary celebration, the
Women’s Symposium is the longest continuously running program of its
nature in the country and one of SMU’s oldest and finest traditions. This
annual forum brings together women and men of differing ages and ethnic
backgrounds to examine and discuss topics of national interest. The
Symposium is the product of a year’s work by joint committees of students,
faculty, and community leaders.  The program features nationally
recognized speakers as well as topical seminars and workshops
conducted by students, community leaders, and SMU faculty and staff.

The primary goals of the program are:
1.   To encourage women to assume roles of social and political
        leadership within their communities;

2.   To provide a forum in which women and men may examine
        the societal impact of the changing roles of women; and

3.   To provide an opportunity for female and male students to
        develop leadership skills within a multigenerational,
        multiethnic model.

The Symposium is designed as a unique educational experience for the
SMU student leaders who comprise the CORE committee. The students
develop skills in interpersonal communication; program planning,
development and evaluation; and time management. In addition, they
learn the importance of teamwork and develop the skills necessary to be
effective team leaders and team members.  They also have the
extraordinary opportunity to meet and talk with some of the nation’s most
accomplished leaders.

Since 1966, over one hundred speakers have been brought to the campus
by the Symposium, including:
 
Margaret Mead, anthropologist     
Wilma Mankiller, tribal leader      
Maya Angelou, author and poet    
Naomi Wolf, author             
Hillary Rodham Clinton, senator & former first lady
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Senator
Cokie Roberts, news commentator 
John Kenneth Galbraith, economist
Coretta Scott King, civil rights leader
Ann Crittenden, author


Over 400 community leaders, college students and high school students register
for the Symposium each year.  One-third of the registrants are SMU students,
with the remainder representing professional and volunteer community leaders,
secondary school students, and faculty and students from other colleges
and universities.