Fall 2015, Vol. 1

Welcome from Thomas DiPiero

The Dedman College Dean’s office is very pleased to launch Inside Dedman College, a semi-annual newsletter for all Dedman College students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The newsletter will keep you abreast of new developments in Dedman College’s teaching, research, learning, and community engagement. It will also introduce you to faculty whose research takes them as far away as the other side of the galaxy or as close to hand as the inner workings of human consciousness. Additionally, we will offer profiles of students and the interesting, unconventional, sometimes unbelievable work they do in the classroom, the laboratory, and the community.

The first issue of Inside Dedman College is coming to you shortly after the announcement that SMU has reached its $1 billion goal—and ahead of schedule! Dedman College has benefited enormously from this capital campaign, and among those benefits include the establishment of eight new endowed faculty positions; the inauguration of six new institutes, centers, and programs; and nearly $25,000,000 in scholarships, graduate fellowships, and student research funding. For more information on how the capital campaign is strengthening and improving Dedman College, visit the give page.

Dedman College faculty continue to do groundbreaking research, publish in the top journals and university presses in the world, and receive accolades for their superior teaching, both in the classroom and out in the field. During the academic year 2014–2015, Dedman College faculty won millions of dollars in federal support for research; they garnered fellowships from the most prestigious federal agencies and private foundations in the country; and they amassed numerous awards for outstanding work in the classroom. 

Because the nature of knowledge is always changing, faculty in Dedman College are always developing new avenues of study for our students. As you likely know, some recent additions to our curriculum include majors in Human Rights, one of only six such programs in the country; Health and Society, an interdisciplinary program on the practice and study of health in global and cultural contexts; and a Ph.D. program, offered in collaboration with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Biostatistics. Other new programs are in the works, and we’ll tell you about them in upcoming issues of Inside Dedman College.

What could be more iconographic of Dedman College and SMU than Dallas Hall? Stately and elegant, yet also warm and welcoming, Dallas Hall has presided over the Hilltop for one hundred years. Recently, Dallas Hall was certified LEED Gold, the first 100-year-old historic building in the state of Texas to be so certified. (LEED certification is conferred on buildings whose environmental and energy-saving operations conform to best practices in their categories.)

For this first issue of Inside Dedman College we’ve decided to take you “Inside Dallas Hall,” and present a collection of photos illustrating some of your favorite features of this classical structure as well as some parts of the building we’re pretty sure you’ve never seen. Did you know, for example, that there is a time capsule hidden in the building? And that no one seems to be really sure what the little “apartment” under the eaves and behind the dome was used for? Or that there is a spiral staircase nestled within the walls of the building that runs from the attic to the first floor?

We’re collecting stories and images about Dallas Hall, so if you have a favorite picture or anecdote about Dallas Hall, please send it to us at dedmanalum@smu.edu.