Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University International Student Insurance

Southern Methodist University is located in University Park, an inner suburb of Dallas, Texas. It was founded in 1911 and opened its doors in 1915 with 456 students and 37 faculty members in one building. The first president of SMU, Robert Stewart Hyer, chose Harvard crimson and Yale blue as the school colors to evoke an association with Ivy League-level universities. Similarly, streets in the University Park area and nearby are named after other lofty universities like Stanford, Princeton, Cornell, and Dartmouth. The school’s athletic nickname is the mustangs.

On Campus

In addition to the main campus, SMU has two satellite campuses in Taos, New Mexico, and Plano, Texas. The Plano campus is the site of the Guildhall, a prominent graduate video game development program among the first and best of its kind. 

In 2008, SMU officially became the site of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The complex includes a presidential library, museum, the George W. Bush Policy Institute, and the offices of the George W. Bush Foundation. The center opened in April 2013 with a dedication ceremony attended by all living former and current U.S. Presidents. 

Notable Alumni

Notable SMU alumni include former First Lady Laura Bush; entertainment figures Kathy Bates, Brian Baumgartner, Amy Acker, and Lauren Graham; Robert Haley, the medical researcher who defined Gulf War Syndrome; CEOs of businesses like British Airways, Con-Real, Virgin America, and The Container Store; and four Olympic gold medalists.