Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a private research university in University Park, Texas; a suburb of Dallas (though the mailing address says Dallas). Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates satellite campuses in Plano, Texas and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. 7,000 of the University's 12,000 students are undergraduates.

History
The university was chartered on April 17, 1911 by the five Annual Conferences in Texas of the United Methodist Church. Classes were originally planned to start in 1913 but were postponed until 1915.

SMU was established as the unsuccessful attempt to relocate Southwestern University from Georgetown, Texas to either Fort Worth or Dallas. The first relocation effort by Polytechnic College president Hiram A. Boaz and spearheaded by Southwestern president Robert Stewart Hyer involved merging Southwestern with Polytechnic College (now Texas Wesleyan University). The post-merger university would retain the Southwestern name while occupying Polytechnic's campus in Fort Worth.



The merger never came to fruition, primarily because the Dallas Chamber of Commerce set up a committee to raise funds and entice Southwestern to relocate to Dallas. This proposal gained considerable traction since Southwestern was operating a medical school in Dallas. Plans were drawn for the campus's first building, Memorial Hall, which inspired SMU's first building, Dallas Hall. Southwestern's trustees rejected the relocation plan, prompting Hyer's resignation and move to Dallas to establish Southern Methodist University.

SMU retained close connections to Southwestern and Polytechnic. Southwestern president Hyer became SMU's first president and Hiram A. Boaz, a Southwestern graduate, resigned as president of Polytechnic to become SMU's second president. Polytechnic attempted to become a feeder school of SMU before becoming a women's college. SMU acquired Southwestern's medical school in Dallas and operated it until 1915. Southwestern and SMU were athletic rivals until Southwestern became a small liberal arts college.

The effort to establish a new university in Dallas drew the attention of the General Conference of the Methodist Church, which was seeking to create a new connectional institution in the wake of a 1914 Tennessee Supreme Court decision stripping the church of authority at Vanderbilt University. The church decided to support the establishment of SMU and dramatically increase the size of Emory University at a new location in DeKalb County, Georgia. At the 1914 meeting of the General Conference, SMU was designated the connectional institution for all Conferences west of the Mississippi River.

Classes were planned to officially begin in 1913, but construction delays on the university's first building prevented classes from starting until 1915. In the interim, the only functioning academic department at SMU was the medical college it had acquired from Southwestern University.

SMU named its first building Dallas Hall in gratitude for the support of Dallas leaders and local citizens, who had pledged $300,000 to secure the university's location. Dallas Hall remains the university's symbol and centerpiece. Designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge after the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Dallas Hall opened its doors in 1915 and housed the entire university as well as a bank and a barbershop. Dallas Hall is registered in the National Register of Historic Places. SMU's nickname "The Hilltop" was inspired by Dallas Hall, which was built on a hill.

The university's first president, Robert Stewart Hyer, selected Harvard crimson and Yale blue as the school colors in order to associate SMU with the high standards of ivy league universities. Several streets in University Park were named after prominent universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Dartmouth, Purdue, Tulane, Amherst, Bryn Mawr, Drexel, Hanover, Marquette, Southwestern, Vassar, and Villanova.

In 1939, SMU was placed under the South Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church.

During World War II, SMU was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

The university drew considerable media attention in 1987 when the NCAA administered the death penalty against the SMU football program for repeated, flagrant recruiting violations. The punishment included cancellation of the 1987 and most of the 1988 football season and a two-year ban from Bowl Games and all televised sports coverage.

In 2008, SMU was selected, despite considerable controversy, as the site of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and the George W. Bush Policy Institute.

Academic profile
SMU has seven degree-granting schools:
 * Cox School of Business
 * Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
 * Dedman School of Law
 * Meadows School of the Arts
 * Perkins School of Theology
 * Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development
 * Lyle School of Engineering

Endowment
SMU's endowment of $1,367,744,000 makes it one of only 77 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada with an endowment above $1 billion, and is ranked number 54.

Research and graduate studies
During 2007–08, SMU received more than $19 million in external funding for research.

Special programs
SMU's Fort Burgwin campus in Northern New Mexico offers summer and fall credit courses, including the SMU archaeology field school program. Past archaeological work has included excavations at Pot Creek Pueblo, a 13th-century ancestral pueblo home of both Taos and Picuris Pueblos. The annual SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute also uses the campus for a weekend of informal classes taught by SMU faculty members.
 * SMU-in-Taos

International study is offered through 24 programs in 12 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America.
 * Study abroad programs

The University Honors Program in the Liberal Arts serves the highest achieving undergraduate students in all departments and majors across campus. Those invited to participate fulfill a seven-course requirement of their General Education Curriculum in small, often discussion-based classes. The Honors Program hosts many events throughout the academic year. It also offers considerable research grants, exclusive job opportunities, and other selective benefits to its student constituents.
 * University Honors Program

Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) – The ACE Center engages students in academic coursework that promotes scholarship through civic participation. Students enrolled in ACE Center courses work 2–3 hours a week staffing local agencies and community organizations dedicated to social and economic opportunity. The most remarkable part of the ACE Center is the ACE House, a four-student, off-campus residence in the low-income Dallas neighborhood of Garrett Park, East. ACE House student-residents run weekly programs at the House for neighborhood children and their families.
 * Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE)

Rankings and recognition

 * Overall University rankings
 * U.S. News & World Report ranks SMU as 58th among "National Universities" in its 2013 edition.
 * 1st In the 2009–10 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Directors Cup Division I Final Standings, SMU is ranked as the top school in its conference.


 * SMU Cox School of Business Rankings


 * 1st The Economist ranks the Cox School No. 1 in the United States for "Potential to Network".
 * 1st In the 2003 BusinessWeek ranking of the top 25 Executive MBA programs in the world, SMU Cox was listed No. 1 for entrepreneurship course offerings.
 * 5th In 2005, Entrepreneur magazine ranked the Caruth Institute No. 5 among the top 100 entrepreneurship programs in the nation, as ranked by program directors, faculty & alumni.
 * 5th BusinessWeek ranks Cox No. 5 for Global Business as "Best Subjects" in the world, as surveyed by EMBA alumni.
 * Top 5 Five Cox School of Business departments were recognized among the nation's top business schools for research productivity based on more than 1.5 million scholarly citations. Only seven schools ranked in the top 30 in all five categories: SMU Cox, Harvard, Stanford, University of Chicago, MIT, NYU, and UCLA.
 * 6th BusinessWeek ranks SMU Cox No. 6 for highest SAT scores.
 * 6th BusinessWeek ranks Cox No. 6 for Marketing as "Best Subjects" in the world, as surveyed by EMBA alumni.
 * 7th The Economist ranks the Cox School No. 7 in the world for "Potential to Network".
 * 9th U.S. News & World Report currently ranks The Cox Professional MBA program (PMBA) 9th in the nation
 * 9th The Princeton Review ranks Cox No. 9 for best professors, based on interest and accessibility.
 * 10th The Cox Professional MBA program (PMBA) is ranked is currently ranked No. 10 for return on investment by Forbes.
 * 10th Forbes ranks Cox No. 10 in the nation for ROI, the only program in Texas and the South on the list.
 * Top 10 Financial Times also names Cox among the top 10 in the U.S. for enrolling the most experienced students and for highest salaries five years after graduation.
 * 12th U.S. News & World Report ranks Cox No. 12 in the nation, the highest ranked program in Texas named in the category.
 * 13th U.S. News & World Report ranks Cox No. 13 in the nation.
 * 13th BusinessWeek ranks Cox No. 13 in the U.S., praising faculty members for real-world experience brought to the classroom.
 * 15th Financial Times ranks Cox No. 15 in the U.S.
 * 16th BusinessWeek ranks Cox No. 16 worldwide praising faculty members for real-world experience brought to the classroom.
 * 20th BusinessWeek ranks SMU Cox No. 20 for sending the most undergraduates to top MBA programs.
 * Top 25 Hispanic Trends names Cox one of the 25 best business schools for Hispanic MBAs.
 * 29th The Wall Street Journal ranks Cox No. 29 regional, and students are commended by recruiters for their ambition and people skills.

Libraries

 * Business Information Center (BIC) – Business school library. Some resources are available to the public.
 * Bridwell Library – Bridwell Library is one of the leading theological research collections in the United States.
 * Central University Libraries – Central University Libraries is the largest of the SMU library administrative units, with holdings of over 2 million volumes. It comprises the Fondren Library Center, the Jake and Nancy Hamon Arts Library, the DeGolyer Library of Special Collections, the SMU Archives, the ISEM Reading Room, the Norwick Center for Digital Services, and the Fred Wendorf Information Center at SMU-in-TAOS, NM.  Holdings include 1,244,889 books, 11,275 current serials, 621,970 microforms, 685,969 government documents, and 4,200 electronic databases.
 * CUL Digital Collections – Central University Libraries Digital Collections provide anyone around the world the ability to access a variety of text, videos and images. These collections are part of CUL’s ongoing effort to digitize and make available SMU’s unique special collections on the Web.
 * DeGolyer Library – The DeGolyer Library is the principal repository at SMU for special collections in the humanities, the history of business, and the history of science and technology. Its rare books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, and other materials are available to all SMU students, faculty, visiting scholars, and other researchers. DeGolyer Library’s holdings of primary sources are supported by exhibitions, lectures, publications, and seminars. Dedicated to enhancing scholarship and teaching at SMU, the DeGolyer Library is charged with maintaining and building its various collections "for study, research, and pleasure." Established in 1957 by gifts from geophysicist Everette Lee DeGolyer, DeGolyer Library houses one of the strongest collections in the United States on the Trans-Mississippi West, Texas, the Spanish borderlands, transportation with an emphasis on railroads, and business history.
 * Fondren Library Center – The largest collection of resources on campus, Fondren Library houses materials in the humanities, social sciences and business, as well as government information resources. Fondren Library also houses the Science and Engineering Library which includes collections in biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences, mathematics, statistics, computer science, and civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. The library has particularly strong collections in the earth sciences, electronics, general science and technology.  The Norwick Center for Digital Collections is also housed in Fondren.
 * Edwin J Foscue Map Library – Located in Fondren Library Center, this is one of the largest map collections in the Southwest.
 * Fort Burgwin Library – The Fort Burgwin Library, located on the SMU-in-Taos campus in New Mexico, contains approximately 9,768 books and small collections of journals and maps.
 * Hamon Arts Library – Hamon Arts Library supports the undergraduate and graduate programs of the Meadows School of the Arts in the disciplines of art, arts administration, cinema, dance, music, and theater. The Library's circulating and reference collections contain more than 180,000 items relating to the visual and performing arts. In addition, the Library has some 300 subscriptions to arts periodicals and provides access to more than 40 online resources that are specific to the arts.
 * Norwick Center for Digital Services – The Center includes a student multimedia center and screening room and supports a full range of digital services, production services and collaborative technology support, including the CUL Digital Collections.
 * Underwood Law Library – The Underwood Law Library's more than 640,000 volumes support the instruction and research of the Dedman School of Law and the general SMU community. The Library's collection is particularly strong in the areas of international law, commercial law, securities, taxation, jurisprudence, oil and gas, and air and space law.
 * Library Catalog – On line catalog of all SMU libraries

Research centers and institutes

 * Alternative Asset Management Center – The Alternative Asset Management Center is a teaching and research center devoted to corporate investing to maximize profits. Our student managed investment portfolios are handled under the oversight of the Alternative Asset Management Center.
 * Business Leadership Center – The BLC encourages MBA students to develop leadership skills.
 * Center for Land Use & Real Estate Economics – This specialized teaching & research center focuses on major issues in the real estate industry.
 * Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship – The Institute offers education and training for today's entrepreneur who competes in a rapidly changing, fast paced, technology-driven environment.
 * Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility – The Center supports research, writing and teaching in ethics at the graduate and undergraduate level.
 * Center for Teacher Education – Workshops and seminars provide lessons that are both useful in instructional delivery and applicable to required professional-development hours.
 * Center for Teaching Excellence – Achieving teaching excellence is not formulaic: in diverse areas of the University, different teaching strategies work best. Therefore, the Center encourages dialogs across schools and disciplines.
 * Clements Center for Southwest Studies – This center promotes research, publishing, teaching, and public programming in a variety of fields of inquiry related to the American Southwest.
 * The Center for Research in Real Estate and Land Use Economics – The Center was created in 1984 as an entity focusing on major issues in the real estate industry.
 * Center for Scientific Computation – This interdisciplinary research center is devoted to the application of computational techniques to problems in mathematics, engineering, and the applied sciences.
 * Center for Statistical Consulting and Research – Statistical consulting services include statistical data analysis and modeling, interpretation of the results, and presentation of conclusions using state-of-the-art statistical methods.
 * Ellen K. Solender Institute in Free Speech and Mass Media Law – Its focus is on media law and issues affecting the free flow of information with some emphasis on problems caused by the differences in the law of various democracies.
 * Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of Evangelism – It seeks to accomplish its mission by providing resources within the Field of Evangelism for scholars, local churches, and others engaged in evangelization, and by providing a strategic forum in which scholars and practitioners of evangelism can be in fruitful dialogue.
 * The Institute for Engineering Education – The Institute for Engineering Education at SMU has been established to pioneer an array of innovative programs designed to present engineering as a fun, challenging and rewarding career opportunity to a national audience of students in kindergarten through high school.
 * The Institute for Reading Research – The Institute's primary mission is to promote reading skills through research in the areas of developing reading interventions for children at-risk for failing to learn to read, children with mild to moderate mental retardation, and children who are either bilingual or who speak Spanish exclusively in the early primary grades.
 * Institute for the Study of Earth and Man – The ISEM was established nearly forty years ago to foster interdisciplinary research in geology and anthropology.
 * JCPenney Center for Retail Excellence – The JCPenney Center for Retail Excellence is the leading source of academic expertise on consumer shopping behavior and the effects of retailer activities on shopping behavior.
 * John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies – The Center was established to support teaching and research programs in international studies and national security policy, focusing upon the institutions that structure national and international decision-making.
 * KPMG Institute for Corporate Governance – The KPMG Institute will explore corporate governance and ethical decision making, and how those choices impact the market's perception of a firm and its future.
 * Law Institute of the Americas – NAFTA/FTAA-related Legal Studies, Latin American Legal Studies, Selective Canadian Legal Studies, Regional Intergovernmental Institutions, Related Rule of Law and Law Reform Issues, International Economic Law and Development Issues
 * Linda and Mitch Hart eCenter – The eCenter provides leadership in the development and use of interactive network technologies.
 * Maguire Energy Institute – Studies the economic, policy, marketing and management issues related to oil, natural gas, and electricity.
 * O'Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom – This specialized teaching and research institute studies political economics and how economic factors impact political decisions and outcomes.
 * Research Center for Advanced Manufacturing
 * SW Graduate School of Banking (SWGSB) Foundation – Focuses on providing education for all levels of bank officers.
 * Temerlin Advertising Institute – The Institute strives to advance the state of advertising communication through partnerships with both industry and government and through programs to blend the research interests of the academy and the profession.
 * Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) – The ACE Center engages students in academic coursework that promotes scholarship through civic participation. Students enrolled in ACE Center courses work 2–3 hours a week staffing local agencies and community organizations dedicated to social and economic opportunity. The most remarkable part of the ACE Center is the ACE House, a four-student, off-campus residence in the low-income Dallas neighborhood of Garrett Park, East. ACE House residents run weekly programs at the House for neighborhood children and their families.
 * High Assurance Computing and Networking (HACNet) Lab – is a research facility in the School of Engineering. HACNet is a certified Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.

Museums

 * Meadows Museum – The Meadows Museum houses several collections including a collection of Spanish art from the 10th to the 21st centuries. It also includes a sculpture collection including works by David Smith, Henry Moore and Claes Oldenburg, as well as by contemporary sculptors such as James Surls.  Important figural sculptures by Rodin, Maillol, and Giacometti are also housed within the museum.  In addition it is also responsible for the University's art collection including several important regional artists.
 * Pollock Gallery – The Pollock Gallery provides an ever-changing display of works by the faculty and students of the Meadows School of the Arts, as well as by outside artists.

Performance venues

 * McFarlin Memorial Auditorium – McFarlin Auditorium is the largest theater on campus, hosting a variety of events throughout the year.
 * Moody Coliseum – Moody Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena that hosts many athletic competitions and other events.
 * Bob Hope Theatre – The Bob Hope Theatre is a 400-seat proscenium theatre housed in the Meadows School.
 * Greer Garson Theatre – The Greer Garson Theatre is a 380-seat theatre with a classical thrust stage housed in the Meadows School.
 * Margo Jones Theatre – The Margo Jones Theatre is a 125-seat “black box” theatre housed in the Meadows School.

George W. Bush Presidential Center
On February 22, 2008, the University trustees unanimously instructed President R. Gerald Turner to enter into an agreement to establish the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the southeast side of the campus. SMU has courted Bush—whose wife, Laura, is an alumna—ever since Ray Lee Hunt broached the subject with the President a few months after Bush assumed office. The museum will be joined by the George W. Bush Institute.

Laura Bush and project architect Robert A.M. Stern unveiled the center's final design on November 18, 2009, on the SMU campus. Budgeted at $250 million, the 227000 sqft complex will include a museum, library, archive and private Policy Institute. The building will be constructed of Texas limestone and red brick with a central landmark tower to blend with SMU's Georgian Revival architecture, and will look out onto a rolling terrain of native Texas wildflowers and grasses designed by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.

Specifications sent to prospective architects in June 2007 called for a 145000 sqft library and a 40000 sqft institute to be built in an area bordered by SMU Boulevard to the north, Central Expressway to the east, Mockingbird Lane to the south and Airline Road and Dublin Street to the west. The specifications called for the buildings to comply with SMU's "distinct architectural character."

The library and museum will be administered by the National Archives and Records Administration while the institute will be privately maintained. The university will have representation on the Institute board.

Student life
In 2008, SMU was named No. 17 among all U.S. colleges for "Most Conservative Students" and No. 15 for "Happiest Students" by Princeton Review.

Student demographics

 * 21.6% of undergraduates are members of a minority group. There are students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and almost 100 different countries.
 * The largest number of international students come from India, China, Mexico, Panama, Pakistan, Korea, Guatemala, Canada, Japan, Turkey, and El Salvador.
 * SMU's female to male ratio is approximately 1:1 and its student-faculty ratio is 12:1. The average age of undergraduate students is 20.6 while that of graduate and professional students is 32.3.
 * Two-thirds of undergraduates and 42% of graduate students report a religious affiliation; 23.1% are Methodist, and 22.9% are Catholic. Other represented religions include Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism.

Housing
At SMU, the residence halls comprise a variety of room types, bathroom styles, and community areas.

Boaz, Cockrell-McIntosh, Mary Hay, McElvaney, Morrison-McGinnis, Perkins, Peyton, Shuttles, Smith, Virginia-Snider.
 * Residence halls

Daniel House, Hawk, Martin, Moore, Multicultural House, Service House, SMU Apartments, Fine Arts Community (Mary Hay and Peyton), Honors Community (Virginia-Snider).
 * Theme halls or apartments

Student organizations
SMU boasts nearly 200 student organizations, including academic, professional, fraternal, sporting, ethnic themed, religious, service, and political diversity groups.

Greek life
Southern Methodist University has:
 * 10 Interfraternity Council (IFC) fraternities (Kappa Alpha Order, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi and Sigma Phi Epsilon)
 * 9 Panhellenic Council sororities (Alpha Chi Omega,, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Delta Delta Delta, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi)
 * 6 National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) organizations (Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, and Phi Beta Sigma fraternities and Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, and Zeta Phi Beta sororities)
 * 5 National Multicultural Greek Council (NMGC) organizations (Sigma Phi Omega, Sigma Lambda Gamma, and Kappa Delta Chi sororities, Omega Delta Phi and Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity.
 * 3 Professional Fraternity Association fraternities (Delta Sigma Pi, Alpha Kappa Psi, and Theta Tau)
 * One Christian fraternity (Beta Upsilon Chi) and one Christian sorority (Eta Iota Sigma)
 * One Service Fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega)

Student media
The Daily Campus has been the independent student newspaper since 1915. It is published on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the Fall and Spring semesters. It operates in conjunction with SMU-TV and The Daily Update, a weekday morning news program also produced by students. In recent years, The Daily Campus has received national attention from The Huffington Post and The Dallas Morning News.

Other student media include:
 * The Rotunda, the official SMU Yearbook.
 * SMU-TV, a student-run television station serving the Park Cities community.
 * "Kairos," an undergraduate research journal
 * "dialog," an undergraduate research journal focused on the social sciences
 * The Daily Update, a weekday morning newscast that airs on SMU-TV and smudailymustang.com
 * KPNI, a student-run radio station
 * Hilltopics, a publication sponsored by the University Honors Program that publishes one or twice a semester
 * Espejo, an online literary magazine.
 * The Muddler, a satirical newspaper.
 * The Great Wall Street Journal, an Asian-interest newspaper
 * The Other Perspective, an online magazine published weekly.

Athletics
SMU's athletics teams are known as the Mustangs and participate in the NCAA's Division I, with the football team competing as a member of Division I FBS. With June Jones arrival on the hilltop, the Mustangs have now gone to back to back bowl games & been the C-USA Western Division Champion 2 years in a row. SMU has been a member of Conference USA (C-USA) since 2005, when it left the Western Athletic Conference. Before that, the Mustangs participated in the now defunct Southwest Conference. The football team plays at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the SMU campus.

SMU's closest rival in athletics is Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas. In football, SMU and TCU compete annually (with the exception of 2006) for the Iron Skillet. In 2005, a nationally unranked SMU beat then 24th ranked TCU for SMU's first win against a ranked team in 19 years (since October 1986).

SMU also competes annually with Rice University in football for the "Mayor's Cup", a traveling trophy that has been created to enhance the Rice-SMU rivalry, which dates back to 1916.

The Doak Walker Award, an annual collegiate award given to the "most outstanding college running back", is named after SMU Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker.

The SMU football program has also produced many professional football standouts, such as Don Meredith, Doak Walker, Kyle Rote, Eric Dickerson, Jerry Ball, and Craig James. Mustangs recently in the National Football League: cornerback Kevin Garrett (Carolina Panthers), defensive back Alvin Nnabuife (Green Bay Packers), defensive end Justin Rogers, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots and played for the Dallas Cowboys. Five Mustangs are currently active in the National Football League: wide receiver Aldrick Robinson (Washington Redskins), defensive back Bryan McCann (Baltimore Ravens), wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders was drafted in the third round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010, corner back Sterling Moore (New England Patriots) and kicker Thomas Morstead was drafted in the fifth round by the New Orleans Saints in 2009.

From 1980–1985 SMU had one of the strongest programs in Division I-A (now FBS). They posted a record of 55–14–1, and finished these seasons ranked No. 21, #7, No. 2, #19, and No. 8 in the nation. These "winningest" years were due to repeated recruiting violations. These violations are characterized by university coaches and administrators teaming with others in the civic and college football arena to purchase students whose only purpose was to bolster the schools football rankings. These repeated violations over a period of five years did not go unnoticed by the NCAA.

On February 25, 1987 the NCAA administered the "death penalty" for repeated, flagrant recruiting violations. Components included cancellation of the entire 1987 season, a two-year ban from bowl appearances, a two-year ban from television appearances, a limit of seven games, all on road, in the 1988 season, a loss of three assistant coaching positions for two years and a loss of 55 new scholarships over four years. Players were allowed to transfer without sitting out one season, per standard requirement. SMU responded to the combination of these conditions by canceling the 1988 season outright.

On November 11, 2006, redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Willis broke the single season touchdown pass record held by Chuck Hixson (21). Willis threw for three touchdowns in a 37–27 loss to the University of Houston, setting the new single season record at 23. At the end of the season, Willis set the new record at 26. He also broke the SMU single season touchdown record accounting for 29 touchdowns. He was named to the Freshman All-American team at quarterback.

On Monday, January 7, 2008, June Jones was named the head football coach at SMU. He brought a record of 76–41, all at the University of Hawaii, where he won more games than any other coach in school history. He signed a five-year contract worth $10 million. The Mustangs went 1–11 in Jones' first season in 2008, but dramatically improved in 2009. The 2009 team finished the regular season at 7–5, earning the program's first bowl berth since the scandal. The Mustangs defeated Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl, which also marked Jones' return to the stadium where he had coached before coming to SMU.

In December 2011, the Big East Conference extended an invitation to SMU to join the conference for all sports beginning in the 2013-14 season. The school will make the move alongside current C-USA rivals Houston, Central Florida, and Memphis.

In popular culture

 * The book A Payroll to Meet: A Story of Greed, Corruption, and Football at SMU is a literature account of the recruiting scandals and violations that ultimately led to the famous "Death Penalty" being instituted.
 * While students at SMU, siblings Bill and Julie Ann Brice founded I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!, a chain that grew to more than 400 locations throughout the United States and 17 foreign countries.
 * Nearly 100 SMU Mustang Band members & alumni, cheerleaders, and pom squad members performed in the George W. Bush 2001 Inauguration Parade.
 * In the 2006 NBC reality television show Treasure Hunters, the victors of ten competing three-person teams were the members of team Geniuses, a team wholly composed of SMU students which won $3 million in the largest reality show prize ever to date. It also appeared regularly in the cult television show Dallas.