2 min read August 2022 — A nationally ranked private university located near the heart of Dallas, SMU (Southern Methodist University) is a distinguished center for global research with a liberal arts tradition and more than 12,000 students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. In an interview with Invest:, President R. Gerald Turner discussed milestones and achievements, lessons learned during the pandemic, affordability, shifts in demand and strategies to meet diversity and inclusion goals.
What were some of the biggest lessons learned from navigating the past two years and how are you applying them moving forward?
Over the last two years, we had to be flexible in our approach and analyze the situation as it continued to change. We were only closed for two months, and we were one of the few universities that was fully open in Fall 2020. Students were allowed to choose whether to come, but over 80% of our students were back on campus and taking classes both online and in-person. Thanks to our open campus, we had students all over the country wanting to transfer to SMU. One of the things we learned was the importance of gathering information, doing as much as possible to prevent the spread of the disease and getting on with our business.
One of the things that underscores the importance of our success is that we had a campus-wide operations committee that met several times a week during the pandemic. It was made up of representatives of every major unit of the university and advisors from the heath community to stay on top of the situation. We never required vaccines or testing, but we set aside two residential commons to temporarily isolate students who became ill in a space where we could feed them, take care of them and make sure they could keep up with their classes as they got better.
I think what most of us learned was the importance of campus-wide communication and the importance of maintaining that ‘Dallas Can Do’ attitude. We tried to maintain as much ongoing life on our campus as we could, and I think research has shown that is what you should do. We observed across the country that students that have been isolated for long periods of time are having more psychological problems, and our method was sometimes criticized, but we think it ended up being the better approach for overall health.
What are some of the current milestones and achievements that are shaping Southern Methodist University?
In September of last year, we kicked off a $1.5 billion campaign. We do one each decade, and this one is our third in a row. Our goals are to empower outstanding students (including through scholarships for first-generation and underrepresented students), to enrich teaching and research, and to enhance the entire campus and community. We will continue to attract a lot of high achieving students and, with support from this campaign, will empower more of them to come here regardless of financial means. We recently announced a new scholarship program, Access SMU, that will cover the full cost of college for our highest-performing Texas students who receive Pell Grants.
A lot of companies moving to Dallas are interested in workforce development, which is one reason the community colleges are so important. But companies are also interested in SMU’s high-level, specialized degrees, ranging from science and engineering, to the humanities, to economics and finance. For example, we have an undergraduate business degree in Alternative Asset Management where our students going into the job market are making around $150,000 to $175,000 per year. Our MBA program is one of the Top 30 in the country, and the Cox School of Business is very important to the Dallas community. We have launched a renovation and expansion project that will increase the Cox School’s square footage by 30%. This will take two years and is oriented toward meeting our research goals and growing our graduate programs.
Mayor Eric Johnson recognizes SMU as one of the top recruiters of talent in Dallas because 60% of our students come from out of state, and approximately 75% of them stay here after graduation. They see Dallas as a great place to start their professional careers and our can-do attitude sets us apart from other attractive markets in Texas. We have more finance and engineering-based firms than Austin and Houston, and we have grown tremendously in energy and technology. Big firms like Goldman Sachs are moving here because they are interested in the opportunities to hire outstanding talent in Dallas.
SMU also recognizes that meeting the need for a skilled workforce has to start a long time before college. To that end, we are partnering with the Dallas Independent School District and Toyota Foundation USA in the West Dallas STEM School for pre-K through 8th grade students. The school opened just this past academic year. SMU is responsible for both curriculum development and long-term analysis of the project, which will help provide a roadmap for other STEM schools in Dallas and beyond.
What can be done on a national scale to help higher education stay affordable?
From a national level, funding the increase in federal Pell Grants is a must, especially because if inflation stays in the double digits over the next year, tuition and other expenses will rise everywhere. As a private institution, we don’t have access to public funds, so we must raise what we spend. For example, we seek to raise $30 million for the endowment of MBA scholarships. We are doing everything we can to address the financial needs of the talented students we get.
Here at SMU we have around 16,000 to 17,000 applications each year for only 1,500 spots, and it is getting more competitive each year. But those students who can’t get in the first year have a great, affordable option that many just don’t know about. They can go into one of the community colleges in the region, make a 3.7 in their courses and transfer to SMU with a half-tuition scholarship for each of their last two years. It literally means that if you are a high merit, high-needs student, you can still get a degree at SMU – for the equivalent of one year’s worth of tuition.
How have you seen the demand for what students are looking for shift because of the pandemic?
Many parents want their children to get a degree in something like business or engineering, but many of our students are interested in the humanities and social sciences. We also have a human rights degree, and it has been well received by our student body. We push our students to get double majors if they can, and we try to empower them so those who are studying history, psychology or other areas in the humanities can get a minor in business if they choose.
However, many companies and businesses are learning the value of having students that are broadly educated to address the rapidity of change.
We have seen that companies hire our graduates who may not have majored in their specific field, but have great soft skills and the ability to write well and work collaboratively. That is the hallmark of an SMU graduate.
Are there any specific strategies in place to meet diversity and inclusion goals?
That’s an important part of our SMU Strategic Plan. About a third of our students are from underrepresented groups, with Hispanic students being the largest group. We have been hosting cultural intelligence workgroups for years now, based on the idea that to live and work together we need to know how to interact with each other. So much of the clumsiness between people of different backgrounds is due to a lack of knowledge.
When the Black Lives Matter movement started, our students organized the Black Unity Forum in 2020 and set up 33 goals to make the university a more equitable, welcoming place. The SMU Board of Trustees agreed to work to achieve those goals, leading us to name a Chief Diversity Officer and diversity officers in each school who are involved in the hiring and admissions processes. All the people we hire must go through our Cultural Intelligence program to learn how to better interact and communicate with each other. We have taken this matter seriously to respond to these issues and make a cultural change that has a long-lasting impact.
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