2008 Woodie Awards
Taos campus adding fall semester for 2009
Meredith Shamburger, News Editor, mshamburge@smu.edu
Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: News
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The home of the SMU-in-Taos campus is getting ready to welcome 60 students for the inaugural fall semester in 2009.
The campus has been unable to have classes during fall because facilities are not able to handle the winter months. However, a recent $4 million gift by former Texas Governor William P. Clements, Jr. and his wife, as well as $900,000 from several other donors, has provided for the winterization and expansion of the campus.
The Board of Trustees mandated a fall semester about five years ago, according to Assistant Director of the Taos program Suellen Turner, and the campus now has a master plan to meet those goals.
A spring semester is not currently in the works because of issues with snow.Turner said the campus received about 100 in. last year. While a spring semester is not currently planned, "We are contemplating a winter interim," she said.
But for now, the program is finalizing the fall 2009 term.
Unlike the Dallas campus, fall classes in Taos will be divided into four blocks. During each 23-day period, a student will take only one class.
"This allows a student to really go into some depth," Michael Adler, executive director of the SMU-in-Taos program, said.
Adler said classes will be an "intensive investigation" and will be taught in the Honor Program format. Each class would have 12 to 15 students.
Students who participate in the program will be required to take 12-16 hours. Designed for a "third semester student," the program offers classes that fall under the General Education Curriculum. Both Adler and Turner said that while the program is intended for first semester sophomores, other sophomores, juniors and seniors could apply if it worked with their graduation plan.
Classes include biology, Spanish, wellness, anthropology and accounting. There is also a special Cultural Formations class taught by Adler and a local writer that will feature a community service component and will span the entire semester. Most of the classes will feature a connection to the surrounding culture.
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