Resources

Medieval Studies Program

Dallas Area Medieval Consortium

In 1995 the Medieval Studies Program entered into a consortium relationship with the University of Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. This consortium has been approved by SMU's Board of Trustees. DAMC, as we call the consortium, is a simple version of the elaborate Five-College Consortium in Amherst, Massachusetts. It opens courses in medieval subjects and in Latin language and literature at each of these three campuses to students enrolled in the Consortium. It also allows faculty on each campus to experiment with "distance learning" on the World Wide Web. SMU faculty have spear-headed technological innovations in their classes; surprisingly (for teachers of the supposed Dark Ages), SMU's medieval courses are among the most technologically advanced and experimental courses now available.

The Consortium is a great boon to all students of the Middle Ages in Dallas area colleges and universities, since it allows students to take a much broader range of courses that any one campus can provide. The University of Dallas, for example, has excellent resources for advanced Latin language studies. On the other hand, the faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas specialize in crucial intercultural fields not represented at SMU, specifically medieval epic Latin literature. Each course offered in these fields is open to Consortium students, with the express restriction that no more than five students per institution per term may participate in consortium arrangements. There have been one to three student exchanges each semester since the consortium began. The development of the Consortium has made it possible to amplify course offerings and to allow students to major in Medieval Studies at no additional cost.