Put Your Skills Into Practice:
On-Campus Immersions

The on-campus immersion experiences are a highlight of the programs. Immersions mean that students don’t have to wait until they graduate to get real-world experiences. Instead, these required collaborative opportunities allow students to network with professionals and start putting their skills into practice.

The immersions align with students’ coursework and include projects before, during and after the experience. The first immersion gives students the opportunity to start building in-person connections with their peers, faculty and professionals. The second immersion is focused on students’ capstone projects, which they present to classmates and leaders from around the country.

Objectives of the Immersion Experience

The immersion experiences were created to help our students begin building their networks with peers, professors, alumni and guest speakers. The experience includes:

• Workshops that align with your coursework
• Networking opportunities and brainstorming activities
• Library tour and skills workshop at the SMU Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies
• Guest speaker presentations and Q&A sessions

Experiences are tailored to your specific degree program. For instance, M.P.P. and M.P.A. students will tour the George W. Bush Institute — a nonpartisan think tank that works on domestic and international issues — as well as the Bush presidential museum. M.H.A. students will have the opportunity to engage with healthcare administration leaders from the Dallas area and beyond. Get a sense of what to expect at the immersion with this sample schedule below from a recent M.P.P. immersion.

The second immersion is focused on finalizing, presenting and celebrating student capstone projects. This immersion gives students the opportunity to showcase what they’ve learned and make valuable career connections with policy professionals.

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Experience a Lively Policy Hub

Visiting the SMU campus is a transformative experience for our students. Dallas is a hub of policy and politics — with a unique mix of party affiliations — and students benefit from SMU’s location in the heart of it all. The city is also home to a plethora of public policy and public administration professionals, which SMU is proud to collaborate with for guest speaker events within the immersions. Students also get to know professionals affiliated with the Bush Institute and Museum.

Guests at past immersion experiences have included:

• Mayors and other city government officials
• Senators, state representatives and a variety of state government officials
• Grassroots organizers and activists
• Policy professionals working in private corporations

Logistics

Both immersions are required for all Master of Healthcare Administration, Master of Public Policy and Master of Public Administration students.

Students are responsible for their own travel costs, including transportation, lodging and food that isn’t provided by SMU. Please ask SMU for hotel recommendations as they do have negotiated rates with some hotels in the area.

SMU provides breakfast, lunch and dinner on Friday and breakfast and lunch on Saturday. Students will also have access to water and snacks throughout the weekend.

On-Campus Resources

During the on-campus immersion, students get to know the campus and learn about the campus resources that are available to them.

Students will receive their student ID during the first immersion. This gives them access to Moody Hall, which they can visit at any point during their program. This building is designed for SMU graduate students and houses many graduate student resources. Students also tour the Moody School library and SMU Bookstore, in addition to participating in a skills workshop with a librarian.