Congratulations to the Dedman School of Law for continuing toadvance its reputation under the leadership of Dean John Attanasio.This is not only positive for the law school, but it reflectshighly on the SMU academic community’s reputation as awhole.
The law school is receiving national attention as well.According to the most recent U.S. News and World Report annual lawschool rankings, SMU moved up two slots to hold the 47thposition.
While the number of law school applicants is up across theboard, due in part to the slow recovery rate of the economy, Dedmandistinguished itself.
The SMU law program has not only been able to be more selectivewith those who are admitted but has also been able to expand. Theschool recently reinstituted an evening program, which will beginin the fall, after being discontinued in 1969.
This four-year course is expected to enroll between 89 and 95students and grow quickly, requiring additional law faculty in thecoming years.
With these programs, the law school’s rank is onlyexpected to continue to rise.
SMU’s undergraduate program appears to mirror this trendof greater selectivity and constant improvement.
Applications for first-time freshman enrollment for the upcomingfall semester have topped 7,000. Despite the rising number ofapplicants, the university will only be able to accept 3,500students for the coming academic year.
As with the law school, the increase of applications at theundergraduate level is a positive trend for SMU. It allows thedeans of admissions to more selectively craft the incomingclasses.
Ed Board gives much of the credit for to the SMU administration.The recent success of the five-year ‘A Time To Lead’campaign is also another factor. The campaign raised nearly $542million before its end in the spring of 2002. The fruits of thiscapital campaign can still be seen across campus.
It has been used to endow new academic programs, pay for newbuildings and create new scholarship opportunities among otherprojects.
The forward thinking and hard work of our administrators andthose leading our various colleges at SMU are the attributes to oursuccess.
These leaders have increased SMU’s chances of attractingstudents and advancing our reputation.
The entire university should be honored to support theseendeavors.
