TAI Celebrates 10th Anniversary

On Friday, October 21st the Temerlin Advertising Institute (TAI) at SMU will be celebrating their 10 year anniversary and as an early alum myself, I couldn’t be more proud of how the program continues to dominate. 

When I graduated from the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU in 2004, I was part of just the second class to complete the program.  Even in those days, Dr. Patricia Alvey was somehow able to attract world-class professors and renowned guest speakers that helped shape my love of strong design, creative copy writing and innovative strategies that allowed my professional career to evolve into owning my own digital agency, JDM — which you’ve likely heard of by now since you’re reading our Shameless News blog.

Since those early days, the TAI has been churning out advertising students that dominate everything from the job market to the local ADDY Awards.  Next Friday, October 21st, the TAI will be celebrating their 10-year Anniversary with an alumni dinner on campus.

Seems not that long ago I attended the inaugural cocktail party for the newly founded TAI and was fortunate to meet Liener Temerlin in person and he impressed me thoroughly not least of which with his modesty.  Indeed, in a press release from the time he was quoted as saying:

[quote]”I’m extremely proud of this recognition from Southern Methodist University. On my wildest creative landscapes, this was never on the horizon. When I started in this business, I hoped I could make a living and perhaps even receive a little distinction. But this is truly overwhelming.”[/quote]

Liener Temerlin began his advertising career in 1953 as a copywriter for Glenn Advertising in Dallas and remained with the agency through several name changes over the past 48 years. He now serves as chairman emeritus of Temerlin McClain, which is the leading advertising agency in the Southwest and part of the Interpublic Group, the largest advertising, marketing and communications resource in the world. Temerlin is widely credited with bringing major national and international advertising accounts to Texas and the Southwest, among them Hyatt Hotels, Max Factor, Quaker Oats, and Pfizer.

I remember when the Ad team from my class won a minor ADDY award.  I thought that was a really big deal.  These days, the TAI Ad team are dominating the ADDYs.  Dr. Alvey, commented on her students domination:  “Just a few years ago, we would have been completely overshadowed by all other art/design/advertising schools. As we began to build a creative program from the ground up, we didn’t even enter competitions for the first few years. Gradually we began to make better showings, and then began to bring home a handful of awards. And now we regularly sweep local, regional, national and even international competitions. SMU’s standing as a true creative bright spot has now been proven with the hardest-to-reach and most competitive part of the advertising and design industries — the creative competitions.”

As SMU itself is celebrating 100 years as a Dallas institution, I’m so very proud of the Temerlin Advertising Institute and its 10th anniversary.  If I know Alvey, and you asked her about what’s in store for the TAI in the next 10 years, I think she’d say, “We’re just getting warmed up!“