In this photo from the SMU archives, Dallas Hall is constructed in the year 1914. (SMU Archives)
Campus will be crowded this week as students, faculty and alumni join together to commemorate SMU’s 100th birthday.
Though the university’s official birthday is Sunday, SMU will be celebrating Founder’s Weekend through a weekend full of festivities. Within SMU’s century-long existence, the university has overcome the disappointments in the athletic department and has continually improved academics and an increasingly robust endowment.
It only seems fitting that SMU would celebrate its 100 years of excellence in higher education.
“Founder’s Day Weekend will be a great opportunity for students, faculty, staff, our alumni and our friends from Dallas and around the globe to recognize all that SMU has accomplished since its founding 100 years ago and all that is to come,” Vice President of Development and External Affairs Brad Cheves said, “It truly is the kickoff for our next century of achievement.”
The Centennial Celebration will kick off the festivities in the Main Quad at 1:30 p.m. today. Those who attend will have the privilege of hearing the Mustang Band perform as the Centennial Flag is raised. There will be a giant birthday card to the university for students and alumni to sign and refreshments will be provided. The celebration will conclude with a “one-of-a-kind” fireworks show over Dallas Hall.
Later in the day, President Turner will give his remarks on SMU’s progress and plans for the future, with the future George W. Bush Presidential Library a likely discussion point. The President’s briefing will take place in the Crum Auditorium of the Collins Executive Education Building at 6 p.m., with a reception preceding it at 5:30 p.m.
The student body will be hosting Relay for Life from 5:30 p.m. today to 5:30 a.m Saturday on the Boulevard. There are currently 45 teams signed up to participate and almost $60,000 has already been raised. The 12-hour walkathon, which celebrates the lives of people who have battled cancer, remembers loved ones lost and fights back against the disease, benefits the American Cancer Society.
On Sunday, the celebration will come to an end with the inaugural Lighting of the Dome: A Tribute to Dallas from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. For 10 evenings, representing SMU’s 10 decades, the dome of Dallas Hall will be lit in honor of the citizens of Dallas who generously provided the funds for SMU’s first building on the Hilltop.
Founder’s Day Weekend aims to celebrate the past 100 years of SMU, while offering a glimpse of what is to come over the next century.
“With rising student and faculty quality, growing recognition of the impact of our faculty and student research and our global reach…our greatest accomplishment is in becoming the university our founders dreamed we could be,” Cheves said. “Our second century will see SMU continue that momentum with a rigorous focus on creating knowledge that will benefit Dallas and the world.”
