SMU administrators and pedagogues converged in the Hughes-Triggtheatre yesterday afternoon for the second of 2003’ssemi-annual General Faculty Meeting. Much of the quality andcompetitiveness of a university rests on the success of its facultyas both scholars and teachers.
In his address to the faculty, President R. Gerald Turnerdiscussed goals and objectives for the university in coming years.He said a university must make an “investment in facultyexcellence.”
In 2002 SMU’s five-year “A Time to Lead”campaign concluded when – surpassing its goal in raisingnearly $542 million dollars – it became the most successfulfundraising campaign in the school’s history.
Commitments to the campaign resulted in 80 new endowments foracademic programs, 171 new student scholarships and awards, 28 newcampus life initiatives, 16 new academic positions, and 14 new orrenovated facilities.
Despite the success President Turner emphasized the increasingchallenge of raising money during a time of economic downturn.
“The major challenge facing us is simply the effects [theeconomy] has had on our endowment.”
However, with the end of “A Time to Lead,” SMU mustbegin to embark on new and continued efforts to utilize itsendowment for the benefit of faculty, students and the Universityat large, he said.
President Turner reported that the Board of Trustees will beevaluating fiscal policy in an effort to determine what anappropriate spending rate is on an endowment, and how spending willpropel SMU towards becoming more competitive with benchmarkinstitutions which include Rice, Vanderbilt, Tulane andNorthwestern.
Over the next 16 months, work will be going on within FacultySenate committees to create recommendations for how an investmentin faculty excellence can help SMU achieve its future goals.
President of the Faculty Senate, Professor Norman Wick, madeclear that if SMU hopes to raise the bar in terms of quality, moresupport is needed in terms of faculty tenure, promotion and endowedchairs.
President Turner also addressed the issue of student diversityand the implication of the Hogwood case decision for SMU. Whilebalances and quotas were declared unconstitutional, PresidentTurner was quick state that the university will continue to workfor diversity on the SMU campus.
President Turner was also optimistic about discussionsconcerning conferences for SMU athletic competition. SMU, TCU,Rice, Tulsa and Tulane have expressed desire to either establish anew conference or realign within the WAC as a more geographicallyunified division.
