SMU's Women's Symposium

02/12/2025

Registration for the 59th Annual Women's Symposium is now LIVE on our website! You won't want to miss out on our keynote speaker, to be announced soon!

https://www.smu.edu/studentaffairs/women-lgbt/womens-symposium

All ticket purchases go directly to our fund to allow us to continue putting on programs such as this to support our students on campus. If you are able, please also consider adding an additional donation to help support our Center and the work we do on campus - especially as we prepare for next year's 60th Symposium!

If you have any questions about the Symposium, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

02/10/2025

We are excited for our upcoming 59th Annual Women's Symposium! Stay tuned for registration information and an announcement of our Community Award Winners and Keynote Speaker!

Send a message to learn more

02/29/2024

We now are excited to announce that registration for the Women’s Symposium is now open, and we warmly invite you to attend!

Please register ASAP to reserve your space! The registration can be found on our website: smu.edu/studentaffairs/womenssymposium (website in page details!)

The 58th Annual Women’s Symposium will be held on Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 with check-in beginning at 5:00pm that day. The detailed schedule for the event is below:

5:00 – 6:30pm: Check-in and Networking Session – Hughes-Trigg Student Center, Gallery 1911 (Lower Level)
6:30 – 8:45pm: Dinner & Ceremony – Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballrooms (Lower Level)
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Plated Dinner (vegan & vegetarian options available upon registration)
Community Awards Presentation
Gail Reese Ward Award & Profiles in Leadership Award
Keynote Speaker: Alex Elle

Keynote Speaker: Alex Elle
Alex Elle is a New York Times Bestselling Author, certified breathwork coach, and Restorative Writing teacher living in Maryland with her family. Writing came into her life by way of therapy and exploration of healing through journaling and mindfulness. The intention behind Alex’s work is to build community and healing practices through literature and language. Alex teaches workshops, courses, and retreats to assist others in finding their voices and create clarity in their lives and relationships. We are so thrilled to welcome Alex to campus for our event!

All details pertaining to registration can be found on our website as well as parking information. We also encourage you, if you are able, to consider donating to the Women & LGBT Center in addition to your purchasing of tickets to our Symposium; donations allow us to be able to put on such great events each year! If you would like and are able to give to help sustain our Symposium, select Women's Symposium on the SMU Giving page: link.smu.edu/giving/givenow

Thank you for being an active part of the DFW community and the Women’s Symposium. We greatly look forward to seeing you at this year’s Women’s Symposium at SMU!

04/13/2021

Today is SMU Giving Day and this is a great opportunity to give to the Women's Symposium and help us continue to bring amazing speakers and opportunities for leadership and development to our students.

03/25/2021

02/12/2021

Another amazing speaker that we have for this year's Women Symposium is...

Brittany Broski! Brittany Broski took the internet by storm in 2019 with her wit, charm, and of course, distaste for kombucha. Brittany’s rise to fame has truly captured the new influencer frontiers of TikTok, demonstrating just how random – and yet, correct – virality can be. With nearly 8 million followers across her TikTok accounts, Brittany is currently one of the most viral people on the internet. Her social platforms continue to exponentially grow as more fans get hooked on her hilarious and relatable content. Since 2019, Brittany has been named Paper Magazine’s TikToker of the Year, appeared in a Super Bowl commercial, created content for Comedy Central and MTV, and has a number of ongoing brand deals. We are so excited to hear from Brittany, and we hope you are too! The podcast is linked in our bio 🎉

02/10/2021

This week’s CORE podcast features 2021 Award Winner, Thear Suzuki! Suzuki is one of this year’s Profiles in Leadership Award Winner. Thear is a SMU grad, where she also served on the board for the Women’s Symposium where she was a student at SMU! Thear continues to serve her alma mater through her Lyle Executive Board Membership and the establishment by Thear and her husband Eric of an endowed scholarship to be awarded to a deserving SMU student. Thear immigrated to the U.S. with her family from Cambodia in 1981. Her passion and her misión are to inspire courageous actions in others, so that they can lead more impactful lives. In addition, she serves on the board of the Texas Women’s Foundation, as well as other organizations near to her heart. Thear is an inspiration and a courageous leader. Tune into her podcast to hear more of her story. Link in bio!

02/10/2021

The secret’s out!

The keynote speaker for the 56th Annual Women’s Symposium is... Elaine Welteroth!! She is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist, former Editor in Chief of Teen Vogue and Judge on the new Project Runway. She is known for her groundbreaking word at the helm of Teen Vogue, where in 2016 she was appointed the youngest ever Editor-in-Chief at a Condé Nast publication and used her position to prioritize diversity and social justice coverage. She’s now a leading expert and advocate for the next generation of change makers. In 2020, Elaine was recently appointed Cultural Ambassador for Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote initiative and in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, she helped launch the 15 Percent Pledge, a non-profit advocacy organization that recruits major retailers including Sephora and Macy’s to commit at least 15% of their purchasing power to Black-owned business. Get excited to hear from her this symposium! 🙌🔥