SMU is the academic home of the Dallas Establishment, and for decades that was not a good thing. The establishment was business-oriented, parochial, and almost childishly anti-intellectual. But as cities grow up, so do its elites. A new generation knew Dallas needed a real university, a place that would be a hotbed of ideas, that would attract the best talent, and that would be capable of leading the city in a global economy. In 1987, they recruited Kenneth Pye, chancellor of Duke University. His untimely death in 1994 left a gaping hole. After a national search, trustees turned to Gerald Turner, chancellor of Ole Miss. Installed as SMU’s president in 1995, Turner surprised even his most ardent early supporters. Using a natural affability and charm to disguise an almost ruthless determination, Turner raised more than $1 billion to remake the campus, recruit new deans, and launch new programs, while stiffening standards and bringing new rigor to every discipline. Early in his tenure, Turner answered a question about which university the SMU he envisioned could be compared to. “I don’t want to be the Harvard of the South, or the USC of the East, or the Emory of the West,” he answered. “I want SMU to be the university for Dallas.” A mere 15 years later—warp speed in academic time—SMU has become that, and more.

Ken Pye was very sick at the time, and he had done a good job for the university as president. I was one of several members on the search committee to find his successor, and in that process we had a professional recruiter who developed a list. Of the four or five who were finalists, Gerald Turner was remarkable.

Throughout the process, from the first meeting to the last meeting, we were convinced that he was the person we were going to get. During the first interview with the full search committee, it became very clear in that interview—I don’t remember if it lasted 30 minutes or an hour—that he was the candidate we wanted.

You’re looking for somebody who can lead the academic mission, who can have the abilities to be an effective fundraiser for the university, and somebody who just can deal with the various constituencies: alumni, faculty, students, parents, and the business community.

And he was looking at us just as much as we were looking at him. He was interested in coming here. He’s from Texas. He knew SMU and Dallas. This is a situation when he wanted to feel comfortable with SMU and the board, and we felt the same from our different perspectives. He’s turned out better than any of us could have hoped for. Gerald is a transformational president for SMU.

He has changed SMU academically, and he’s changed the campus—the look of the campus, the facilities of the campus. He’s been instrumental in the presidential center that’s coming here. I think he’s got more work to do and more of it that he will do. If you look at the students, our students in terms of test scores have improved dramatically.

By any measure of the university, he’s just been transformational.


Gerald Ford is a member of SMU’s board of trustees.