Moody Foundation Gift

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A major step in serving the talent and research needs of a challenging world

Thanks to a landmark $100 million commitment from the Moody Foundation, ÃÛÌÒ½´is launching the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. This is a transformational moment for SMU, signaling that the University has the means to attract and support research of the highest caliber, and the men and women who deliver it.

Project Overview

Moody Endowed Deanship funding will provide the dean of the Moody School with discretionary resources available for staff positions, programming and highest priority needs.

Moody Endowed Graduate Fellowships will position ÃÛÌÒ½´with other elite universities to attract and support the best and brightest graduate students. These students will supercharge our faculty research, enrich the University's intellectual environment and serve as ÃÛÌÒ½´ambassadors when they earn positions at other institutions.

Moody Endowed Ph.D. Dissertation Fellowships will provide the support necessary to enable timely completion of Ph.D. dissertations.

Moody Endowed Faculty Fellowships will support outstanding faculty, including visiting faculty, and increase their capacity to mentor graduate students and conduct research.

Moody Research Incubator funding will attract nationally and internationally renowned scholars to ÃÛÌÒ½´to conduct high-impact, cutting-edge research.

Moody Academic Initiatives funding will stimulate interdisciplinary work across the University and support high-impact projects, including capital projects and research initiatives.

Moody Hall, a new facility, will be home to the Moody School, spurring faculty and student interaction for significant, interdisciplinary research.

Eventually, all graduate degrees through Dedman College of Sciences and Humanities, Lyle School of Engineering, Meadows School of the Arts and Simmons School of Education and Human Development will be administered jointly through the Moody School and the student’s individual school. Students will receive a diploma that credits their degree to both their individual school of study and the Moody School.

The Cox School of Business, Dedman College of Law and Perkins School of Theology do not offer Ph.Ds. and will continue to manage their own terminal degrees. But the Moody School will link interdisciplinary research and professional development from all ÃÛÌÒ½´schools.

The initial internal division of the finances, staff and structure of the currently combined Office of Research and Graduate Studies has begun. The School will begin formal operation during the 2020-21 academic year.

The timetable is evolving, but ÃÛÌÒ½´plans to develop the Moody School in four stages:

  1. The Moody School will first focus on Ph.D. students in all disciplines and master’s level students in Dedman College of Sciences and Humanities.
  2. The school will assume the Doctor of Engineering, Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Education – all terminal degrees in their fields.
  3. Lyle master’s degrees will come under the purview of the Moody School.
  4. The remaining master’s degrees in the Meadows and Simmons Schools, including the Liberal Studies Program, will come under the arm of the Moody School.