INSIDE
Fantastic slices at Zoli’s NY Pizza Tavern
Basketball schedule released
PAGE 3
A moral imperative in Syria
PAGE 4
Middle Eastern film hits screens
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FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 13, 2013 FRIDAY High 97, Low 73 SATURDAY High 93, Low 73
VOLUME 99 ISSUE 11 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
Academics
REBECCA KEAY / The Daily Campus
Businessweek ranked the Cox MBA program 29th in the nation in 2012.
SMU holds top spots in national, global rankings KaTY Roden Editor-in-Chief kroden@smu.edu
ELLEN SMITH / The Daily Campus
The SMU Residential Commons will host 11 Faculty-in-Residence, who will help to create a sense of community in the new living quad.
Faculty-in-Residence announced Katelyn Gough Assignments Desk Editor kgough@smu.edu SMU announced its 11 faculty members who will serve as the pillars of the new Faculty-in-Residence program to begin with the unveiling of the new residential commons for Fall 2013. Assistant Director of Residence Life Jeff Grim said the program is meant to “break barriers for students” and engage them more directly and personally with their professors, not only from their major, but from all schools at the University. “In college, students are trying to be successful, questioning identity, creating careers, exploring spirituality, and learning about subjects that they have never heard of before,” Grim said. “Now we have more members of the SMU
community that will be closely tied to a student’s exploration.” Grim described the program as “creating a living environment that matches [SMU’s] interdisciplinary curriculum and connects both in-class and out-of-class learning,” competitive with some of the most prestigious universities across the nation. SMU joins Harvard, Princeton, Vanderbilt and others as one of the country’s learning institutions invested in a residential experience that matches the “academically rigorous in-class” environment. Opportunities for exploration on and off campus will be a highlight of the new Facultyin-Residence program, as well as “discussions on current events” and “a plethora of other opportunities” to fully engage students. Associate Director of Residential Life, with Grim,
Jennifer Post said the program had more “outstanding” faculty applicants than even anticipated, and all 11 of “the faculty selected are truly tremendous” and “dedicated to student success.” “SMU students are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing opportunity to get to know such great faculty outside of the classroom,” Post said. “The faculty members will be able to provide unique experiences for students that residents might not otherwise have.” Post explained the program is meant to enhance the overall experience of SMU students by giving them a direct connection between their academic goals and their day-to-day living. One of the biggest goals is to allow the development of “a more academicallyfocused campus.” “We know that students have better academic experiences
when they know faculty outside of the classroom,” Post said. “The addition of Faculty-in -Residence and Faculty Affiliates will help enrich...[the University outside] the classroom and give students an even better experience.” Beyond the academic focus, Grim said the new design of residential life will allow students a well-rounded, well-balanced way of living on campus. “Some [faculty] will be bringing partners and children, while others will be bringing a pet, and all have unique, creative ideas of how to engage students in their living environment,” Grim said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better group of faculty to lead us into the Residential Commons initiative.” Check out The Daily Campus over the next few weeks for upcoming profiles on each of the 11 selected faculty members.
Student Life
Alternative Breaks to visit Oklahoma Mackenna Scripps Contributing Writer mscripps@smu.edu Four days of no classes. Four days to do nothing, or to do something. Why not do something with that time? Here is where the Alternative Breaks, or “AB,” program comes in. AB is a student organization that offers different service opportunities during every academic break – including fall, winter, spring, summer and some weekends. A group of students and faculty travel to different communities in need across the country, making a difference. “I love the fact that our organization allows students to engage in direct service work while making a positive impact on needy communities locally and globally,” Danielle Katz, Student Director for AB, said. There are four different trips available for this Fall Break. The first one aims to help domestic violence. SMU will partner with the Genesis Women’s Shelter in Dallas to sort and collect donations at the Genesis Thrift Store – a store that receives over 300 donations a day and raises close to $1 million
U.S. News and World Report released the 2014 Best National Universities rankings Tuesday, evaluating SMU at No. 60 out of the 206 published rankings. The 2014 ranking is two spots higher than last year’s ranking of 58 which had improved from 2012’s No. 62 ranking. Within Texas, SMU ranks third behind Rice University (18 nationally) and University of Texas at Austin (52). Texas A&M follows at No. 69, Baylor at No. 75 and Texas Christian University at No. 82. On Sept. 5, Times Higher Education released an “Alma Mater Index” which ranked global executives world wide. SMU holds the 10th spot in the nation and 22nd spot worldwide for producing Fortune Global 500 CEOs. SMU graduated four of those CEOs that have amassed a combined revenue of $575.3 billion. A notable alumnus, Edward B. Rust Jr., chief executive officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, received his master of business degrees from SMU. State Farm is 138th on the Fortune Global 500 list and is based in Bloomington, Ill. THE’s methodology for the index included “the total number of degrees awarded to CEOs, the total number of CEO alumni, [and] the total revenue of the alumni CEOs’ companies.” Harvard University holds the No. 1 spot nationally and globally in the index with 25 Fortune Global 500 CEOs with a total revenue of $1,548.3 billion. Locally, SMU also has a strong showing. The Dallas Business Journal released a Top CEO-Producing Universities list on Jan. 25, 2013. DBJ ranked the schools by the number of local CEOs graduated. UT Austin came in at No.1 with 23 CEOs graduated in the Dallas-
Fort Worth area. Notable UT alum include Rex Tillerson of Exxon Mobil Corp. and Gary C. Kelly of Southwest Airlines Co. Harvard holds the second spot with 15 local CEOs. SMU was ranked third with 12 local CEOs including Tom Rhodus of Looper Reed & McGraw, Emily Parker of Thompson & Knight LLP, Harold MacDowell of TDIndustries, Timothy R.
U.S. News & World Report
Rankings
18 52 60 * 69 75 82
Rice University UT Austin
SMU
A&M
Baylor
TCU
Art by ANDREA BARETTO / The Daily Campus
Wallace of Trinity Industries, Inc. and Mark Kelley of Vinson & Elkins LLP. Marci Armstrong, associate dean for the Cox School of Business, told Dallas Business Journal that networking plays a large role in SMU graduates’ success. “Not only do they get a great education, but the network that they build here is something that we really emphasize in a positive way – the benefits of building that SMU network in, certainly, the North Texas community, but around the world,” Armstrong said. Other Texas universities ranked behind SMU on DBJ’s list including TCU and Baylor University with seven local CEOs. Texas Tech University, University of North Texas and Trinity University also ranked within the top 10.
Dallas Business Journal’s
List of
Top CEO-Producing Universities Rank
* Courtesy of Molly O’Connor
Students with Alternative Breaks pose in Altus, Ark. during fall break last year.
each year. The Thrift Store gives women and children necessary items at no cost. The second option pairs with Rebuilding Together Kiamichi County in Hartshorne, Okla. The students will work on home repairs and improvements for low-income homeowners. The third choice is with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City where students
will sort and pack food. According to the Bank: “There are over 675,000 Oklahomans at risk of hunger every day, including one in four children in the state. The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma distributes enough food to feed more than 90,000 hungry Oklahomans each week through more than 1,000 community pantries, shelters, soup kitchens
and schools in central and western Oklahoma.” Lastly, SMU will partner with City Year in San Antonio to inspire struggling kids, prepare and serve food for people without homes and work with adults who have special needs. “The Alternative Breaks experience is intentionally
BREAKS page 5
1 3 4 5 5 7 9 9
Number of Local CEO’s Graduated
School
University of Texas at Austin Southern Methodist University Texas A&M University Texas Christian University Baylor University Texas Tech University University of North Texas Trinity University
23 12 8 7 7 6 4 4
Times Higher Education: “Alma Mater Index”*
10th
SMU Ranking:
Nationally
22 nd Globally
SMU has graduated four Fortune Global 500 CEOs who have a combined revenue of $575.3 Billion *Based on Fortune Global 500