Student Academic Engagement and Success is a division within the Office of the Provost at SMU that oversees a wide range of academic support and engagement offices and initiatives.
Academic Support
We work to ensure that all SMU students are aware of the academic opportunities and support systems that operate across campus to ensure their academic success and enrich their experiences inside and outside the classroom.
Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center
The Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center (A-LEC) is a highly utilized resource for undergraduate students at SMU. Located at 202 Loyd All Sports Center, the A-LEC offers services to help students improve their grades and manage stress levels.
- Peer tutors provide free assistance for many courses, complementing students’ direct contact with professors. Tutoring sessions can cover course material, focus on specific problems, or offer study tips.
- Workshops are offered at the A-LEC. Among the topics covered are note-taking, time management, test-taking strategies, textbook study reading, motivation and stress management.
- The Writing Center is another resource for students where they can meet with a faculty member to improve their research, critical reading, and writing skills. These meetings can include strategies for developing arguments, professional written communication, or revising drafts.
The A-LEC emphasizes academic support and development, helping SMU students become stronger and more successful learners during their time on campus.
Academic Skill Development
The Academic Skill Development (ASD) office provides tailored academic support services to undergraduate students to help them optimize their learning potential. ASD academic counselors and learning specialists offer individualized academic counseling on topics such as time management, academic skills, and accountability.
Academic Development of Student-Athletes
The Academic Development of Student-Athletes (ADSA) at SMU understands the unique academic challenges faced by student-athletes. Located in Suite 316 of Loyd All Sports Center, ADSA provides academic counseling to help student-athletes make informed decisions about their degree, major selection, plan their semester courses, and maintain their NCAA eligibility.
Our tutorial program offers supplemental support for SMU graduate and undergraduate courses, with peer tutors available to assist with content comprehension, study skills, and time management. Reading and Writing Interventionists work with our student-athletes to improve their reading and writing skills and identify potential barriers to learning, empowering them to succeed both on and off the field.
Peer Academic Leaders
The Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) are a group of undergraduate students dedicated to helping students better understand the Common Curriculum, utilize academic resources, and navigate academic challenges. PALs work primarily with students in the Residential Commons, but serve all undergraduate students. Through mentoring and academic programming, the PALs empower students to take ownership of their collegiate careers and foster a sense of belonging on campus.
Student Success and Retention
The Office of Student Success and Retention (SSR) strives to empower undergraduate students to succeed from the beginning of their academic journey until graduation day. SSR is committed to providing support and resources to help students overcome challenges and achieve their goals.
Success coaching, strategic outreach, and collaboration with other campus offices are just a few of the ways that SSR provides guidance to students navigating obstacles. With a focus on ensuring a positive student experience, SSR is dedicated to helping students thrive and succeed at SMU.
University Testing Center
The University Testing Center (UTC) offers a range of services and support to assist with educational, career, and personal goals. Our services are available to all SMU students, including those with accommodations, student-athletes, and non-athletes.
We provide testing for academic credit, makeup exams, and professional certification. We strive to engage the local community and SMU students through credit-by-exam (CLEP) and other academic tests. Our policies adhere to the National College Testing Association (NCTA) standards to ensure exam integrity, accessibility, and professionalism for both examiners and examinees.
University Advising Center
The University Advising Center (UAC) works in partnership with pre-major students to support them as they embark on their undergraduate journey at SMU. Our academic advisors provide guidance and support to help students make informed decisions about their academic careers, cultivate a sense of responsibility and control, and plan for the future.
Additionally, we offer specialized advising for students interested in pre-law or pre-health, and we are available to answer questions about academic policies and procedures. UAC is committed to connecting students to campus resources as needed to ensure their academic success.
Disability Accommodations and Success Strategies
Disability Accommodations and Success Strategies (DASS) offers any qualifying SMU student with a disability comprehensive support services, including classroom accommodations. DASS assists with physical accessibility issues, referrals, and housing/dining accommodations for many conditions such as physical, visual or hearing disabilities and medical or psychiatric disorders.
For undergraduate students with a learning disability and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, academic coaching with DASS learning specialists is available in the areas of transitioning, learning strategies, educational planning and self-advocacy. All services are at no cost to the student.
Academic Enrichment
SMU offers a variety of programs and opportunities designed to engage students in the curriculum and enhance the academic experience.
National Undergraduate Fellowships
The Office of National Undergraduate Fellowships (ONUF) at SMU assists both current undergraduates and recent graduates in pursuing competitive, external fellowships and scholarships. National undergraduate fellowships present valuable opportunities for international education, support in graduate studies, and professional growth.
Through information sessions, we provide increased awareness about prestigious awards, including the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Truman, Goldwater, Gilman, and many more. Additionally, we offer personalized one-on-one guidance throughout the application process. National fellowships are accessible to all Mustangs, and we highly encourage interested candidates to apply.
Engaged Learning
In the Office of Engaged Learning (OEL), we empower undergraduate students to expand their learning beyond the classroom through experiential programs. Our comprehensive offerings include funding, mentorship, coaching, and networking opportunities allowing students to showcase their work and connect with peers in their field.
The Engaged Learning Fellowship (ELF), Engaged Learning Starter Award (ELSA), Undergraduate Research Assistantships (URA), and Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) are among the programs offered by OEL. Additionally, we coordinate the Summer Research Intensive (SRI) and programming for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU).
Honors and Scholars
SMU offers an extensive range of Honors and Scholars programs for SMU students. Those contained in the Honors & Scholars department are: the Hilltop Scholars Program, the Rotunda Scholars Program, the University Honors Program, the Mustang Scholars Program, and the President’s Scholars Program.
Our dynamic programs are designed to provide unique academic opportunities, interdisciplinary seminars, and hands-on activities that will immediately challenge and expand your thinking. With a focus on academic enrichment, our programs offer a diverse array of experiences that will engage and inspire you.
Academic Initiatives
Academic initiatives enhance the academic mission of SMU by establishing projects to address specific areas in order to improve and enhance those areas of academic life for all Mustangs.
First-Generation Initiative
The First-Generation Initiative (FGI) is a hub for SMU students who are the first in their family to go to college. We offer signature programs, events, resources, and individual support to first-generation students. Through an extensive campus network, FGI provides holistic support to address potential academic, cultural, or financial barriers arising during the college experience.
Pathways to Business and Industry
There are numerous paths to a career in business or industry on the Hilltop. At SMU, there are majors housed in all five of the undergraduate schools, as well as business-focused clubs and organizations, that provide the foundation for a business or industry career.
We prepare our students by providing opportunities inside and outside the classroom that are unique to each student’s goals through the Pathways to Business and Industry program. These opportunities allow students to develop critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills that business sector employers value. Employers are looking for more than just a degree, and our students are prepared!
SMU Libraries
www.smu.edu/libraries
SMU Libraries are one of the greatest assets of the University, and comprise the largest private research library system in Texas, ranking third in the state with over four million volumes. Support for research and teaching for SMU students, faculty and staff is the primary goal of all libraries at SMU. The University’s library system is comprised of six libraries on the main campus and one library in Taos, NM.
- Fondren Library
- Hamon Arts Library
- DeGolyer Library
- Underwood Law Library
- Bridwell Library
- Duda Family Business Library
- Fort Burgwin Library
Fondren Library
Fondren Library is the main library on campus and serves students, faculty and staff in the areas of humanities, social sciences, business, education, science, and engineering, with over three million print and online resources. Subject librarians assigned to each discipline offer personal research services to students and faculty to support teaching and learning. Subject librarians collaborate with faculty to integrate information literacy concepts into university curriculum to support the academic mission of the university. Within Fondren Library, students have access to a wide variety of study spaces, including bookable study rooms and conference rooms with supportive learning technology. The Caren Prothro Learning Commons and nearby Collaborative Commons provide both individual and collaborative group spaces conducive to creative work, as well as a Starbucks café and the IT Help Desk to provide technical assistance to the University community. For quiet study, the Fondren Foundation Centennial Reading Room is a beautiful setting with vaulted ceilings and handmade wooden tables with reading lamps in a large sunlit space. The bold visual impact of this iconic reading room epitomizes the discovery, inspiration and community for which SMU is known. In addition to physical spaces, Fondren Library also manages the SMU Digital Repository, called SMU Scholar, which houses the scholarly output of the SMU faculty and graduate students. To support the research of the university, Fondren Library provides document delivery, as well as access to holdings from other libraries via interlibrary loan. Strengths of the Fondren Library collections include, classical studies, late 18th- and early 19th-century English literature, American history, Texas history, contemporary biography and literature, anthropology, political science, economics and other social sciences.
The Norwick Center for Digital Solutions (nCDS), located in Fondren Library, focuses on digitizing collections of rare photographs, manuscripts, imprints, artwork, film, musical recordings, and other unique items for increased access via the Digital Collections website. nCDS serves as a teaching lab, with digital collections development and Digital Humanities practicums available to students.
Hamon Arts Library
The Hamon Arts Library, adjoining the south side of the Owen Arts Center of the Meadows School of the Arts, provides resources for the study of art history, communications, arts management, dance, film, music, theatre and visual art. With nearly 250,000 volumes of books, sound recordings and video recordings, the library’s collections support the Meadows curriculum and are particularly strong in European, American and Latin American arts. The library also provides conference room facilities; group audio-visual study and presentation rooms; a screening room for film; and public computers for research, study and arts-specific software projects. Two special collections units are administered by Hamon Arts Library:
The Jerry Bywaters Special Collections focus on the cultural history of the American Southwest. Visual arts holdings include archival materials and works of art on paper documenting the careers of artists such as Jerry Bywaters, Otis and Velma Davis Dozier, E.G. Eisenlohr, Octavio Medellin, Olin Travis and Janet Turner as well as correspondence of 19th-century French painter Rosa Bonheur. Performing arts holdings include two Japanese gigaku masks dating from the 7th to the 10th centuries, the papers of Oscar-winning actress Greer Garson, and materials documenting the careers of longtime SMU music faculty members Paul van Katwijk and Lloyd Pfautsch.
The G. William Jones Film and Video Collection, founded in 1970, holds more than 10,000 films and videos on a wide array of subjects, in all types of formats. The Jones Collection is best known for its Tyler, Texas, Black Film Collection, WFAA and KERA newsreel collection, and for the Sulphur Springs Collection of pre-nickelodeon films.
DeGolyer Library
DeGolyer Library is a noncirculating special collections library focused on the humanities that contains more than 170,000 volumes. In addition to rare books, the DeGolyer Library holds nearly 2,500 separate manuscript collections, nearly 1.5 million photographs and negatives, 2,000 newspaper and periodical titles, 3,000 maps, and an extensive collection of printed ephemera. Subject strengths include the American West, Mexico, railroad history, business history, English and American literature, and the history of science and technology.
The University Archives, part of the DeGolyer Library, is the official repository for SMU administrative and historical records. The archives contain manuscripts, photographs, publications, records, and artifacts documenting the establishment and growth of the University. SMU administrators, faculty, local historians and media representatives are its principal users, but students and visiting scholars often use its materials for a variety of research projects.
Underwood Law Library
The Underwood Law Library building is the fifth largest private law library west of the Mississippi River. The library’s collection of antiquarian law books, including the McKnight Antiquarian Book Collection, is one of the leading collections of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, with volumes printed as early as 1473. The library has 800 seats and 14 group study rooms.
Bridwell Library
Bridwell Library, primarily serving the faculty and students of the Perkins School of Theology, is the University’s principal research resource for the fields of theology and religious studies. It offers a print collection of nearly 400,000 volumes and more than 1,000 journals, and it provides access to a wide array of digital books, journals, and databases. Among the library’s special collections are significant holdings in early printing, English and American Methodism, theology, religion, printing history, typography and the book arts. The interpretation of these collections is accomplished through class instruction, lectures, publishing and exhibitions. Reference and special collections librarians are available to help students discover and use many of the library’s resources. Bridwell also houses the Theological Writing Center, which provides writing guidance and assistance for student in Perkins School of Theology. Bridwell holds the largest collection of Methodist and Wesleyan artifacts as the new home for the World Methodist Museum collections and the new Center for World Methodism.
Duda Family Business Library
The Duda Family Business Library of the Cox School of Business is located in the lower level of the Maguire building within the Miller Business Quadrangle. This library is open to all students regardless of major. The mission of the library is to provide the SMU community with authoritative business information, regardless of format; support the integration of information and technology into the curriculum; and act as a center for research and development for state-of-the-art information technology applications in the business education field. In support of this mission, students, faculty and staff have access to course-specific in-class instruction sessions, open enrollment research workshops and reference assistance from dedicated business librarians to enhance their use of current business news and financial, industry and market data from premier providers. The business library includes the Kitt Investing and Trading Center, the Ida Family Reading Room, student study areas, a periodicals area, facility wide wireless access, more than 750 electronic resources, the Hillcrest Foundation International Resource Library, the Edwin L. Cox Business Leadership Center Resource Collection and the Cox Career Services Collection. Librarians are available every day that the business library is open, providing research assistance both in person and virtually.
Fort Burgwin Library
The Fort Burgwin Library, located in Taos, New Mexico, serves students and faculty in the SMU-in-Taos program. It is focused on the history, literature, cultures and environment of New Mexico and the Southwest. The library, constructed in 2004, contains approximately 9,000 books and a small collection of journals and maps, and houses the Fred Wendorf Information Commons and a computer lab.
Scholars’ Den
The newly renovated Scholars’ Den is a gathering space for members of the various scholar groups at SMU. Its mission is to foster scholarship and community among its member groups by providing a hospitable place to study and hold scholarly events. Located in Clements Hall, the Scholars’ Den features group-meeting space, study areas, a kitchen/dining area and an informal lounge where students can gather to collaborate on academic and extracurricular projects. Additional information can be found by navigating to www.smu.edu/scholarsden.
Meadows Museum
The Meadows Museum, founded by the late philanthropist Algur H. Meadows and located on campus at 5900 Bishop Boulevard, houses one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art in the world, as well as selected masterpieces of modern European sculpture, from Rodin and Maillol to David Smith and Claes Oldenburg. The permanent collection of the museum numbers more than 3,500 objects, including paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and works on paper from the Middle Ages to the present. Artists represented include El Greco, Velázquez, Ribera, Zurbarán, Murillo, Goya, Picasso, Dalí and Miró. The Meadows Museum hosts a regular program of loan exhibitions each year in its exhibition galleries, and it sponsors an active program of public lectures, tours, films, concerts and symposia, as well as access programs, children’s art programs and family days throughout the year. Museum collections are often used by SMU faculty in their courses. The museum membership program includes exhibition previews, tours of private collections and opportunities for travel. Docent tours of the collection are available to school, University and adult groups. The Meadows Museum has a museum shop on site as well as special event rooms. Additional information is available at www.meadowsmuseumdallas.org.
Office of Information Technology
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides computing, information processing, and communications resources to satisfy the needs of the SMU community. These services include your SMU email account, access to enrollment and financial data online, internet access, phone services, web-based tools, technical support, and more.
We offer high-speed wired and wireless networking connections throughout campus, including all areas within the residence halls. Wireless coverage (i.e., PerunaNet, eduroam) extends throughout the campus in classrooms, libraries, common areas, and several outdoor locations. In addition, access to campus-restricted resources is available using a virtual private network connection (VPN), and utilizing the Wi-Fi networks at other universities and research institutions is made possible by connecting to eduroam. For more information about the networks and how to get connected, please visit smu.edu/wifi.
All students receive an SMU email account to keep upon graduation, which may be accessed online via Microsoft 365 (smu.edu/microsoft365) or on their mobile devices using their NetID and SMU password. Students also have access to a variety of web-based services such as virtualized apps (smu.edu/apporto), Microsoft Teams (smu.edu/teams) for collaboration, unlimited cloud storage with Box (smu.edu/box), and the Canvas Learning Management System (smu.edu/canvas). Access to several high-performance computing (HPC) options for computational and artificial intelligence (AI) research is also available by visiting smu.edu/oithpc. Academic information, including grade history, financial information, and class registration, is available through my.SMU at smu.edu/mysmu. Links to all of this, plus a few highlights regarding IT services to help you quickly get up and running during your time at SMU, can be found at smu.edu/techstart.
OIT also provides complimentary on-campus IT support. Located in Fondren Library West, the IT Help Desk offers technical assistance for common computing issues and installation of software applications pertinent to course instruction on weekdays and weekends during the regular semester. Times will vary for breaks and summer, so please check the website at smu.edu/techsupport for the latest hours. The IT Help Desk provides support via phone at 214-768-HELP (8-4357), online chat (smu.edu/itchat), or in-person for a wide variety of technical questions related to networking, software installs, and the use of SMU IT resources. The OIT website (smu.edu/oit) provides information, step-by-step instructions, and answers to many frequently asked questions. Training On-Demand is available through LinkedIn Learning (smu.edu/linkedin) for many of the required software packages needed for your courses, plus additional software and skills training, such as interviewing techniques and time management.
We know most students arrive on campus with a personal laptop, but SMU offers macOS and Windows computer labs loaded with specialty applications required for courses. Printing at multiple campus locations is also available through our PaperCut Pay-for-Print System (smu.edu/printing). Discounts on software and computer hardware purchases are available throughout the year if you need to purchase a personal copy of software or a new laptop. You can find more information at smu.edu/techbuys.
For additional information on services provided by OIT, students should visit smu.edu/oit or call the IT Help Desk at 214-768-HELP (8-4357). SMU-related technology news and updates are available on social media (username smuoit) and the IT Connect blog at smu.edu/itconnect.
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