Dr. R. Gerald Turner is stepping down as president of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, a post he has held for 30 years.

In a YouTube video and letter to the SMU community on August 21, he said, "...it is with an incredible sense of gratitude to the SMU community, I am announcing today that the coming academic year, 2024-2025, will be my last to serve as the 10th President of Southern Methodist University (SMU).

"I have been blessed by remarkable health and energy, along with the consistent support of the Board of Trustees, my wife Gail, my family, and the SMU community," he continued. "But as Trustee Ray Hunt occasionally notes, the calendar is the calendar, and it relentlessly moves forward. Therefore, it is best to transition out of the presidency when momentum is high, as it now is at SMU."

A search committee aims to name a new president by the end of the spring 2025 semester, Turner said.

Turner will become president emeritus of the university when the new president takes office, likely on June 1, 2025, he said. In that full-time capacity, he will report to the new president to continue to support the development and external affairs of the SMU.

Before joining SMU, Turner had been chancellor at the University of Mississippi. At his 1995 SMU Presidential Inauguration, he memorably said, "Life is too short to go to an ugly university." (Indeed, SMU consistently ranks as one of the prettiest college campuses in America.)

Chief among Turner's accomplishments at SMU are:

• Two successful major capital campaigns (A Time to Lead, 1997-2002, and Unbridled: The Second Century Campaign, 2008-2015), which provided funding for academic and athletic facilities, scholarships, academic programs, endowed faculty positions, and more.
• The recruitment and construction of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
• A current $1.5 billion SMU Ignited major gifts campaign (2021-2028), which is 90% toward its goal.
• SMU's new membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which officially began July 1, 2024.
• Other major construction projects and significant enhancements of academic programs.

SMU has remained a leading U.S. academic institution for business, graduate degrees, and more. Its acclaimed Meadows School of the Arts got a major boon last fall from a $15 million gift that helped create a specialization in music theater. An SMU professor is the current Poet Laureate of Dallas.

"The Board and I are extremely grateful and proud of our shared success during the past 30 years brought about by the generosity of our supporters and the remarkably creative executive administrators, staff, and faculty at SMU," Turner said in his announcement.

"Thank you for 30 years of friendship and support ... let's continue to 'pony up.'"