Dear Colleagues,

With holiday break right around the corner, we wanted to send one last highlight e-mail to finish up a very successful semester. All the best for the holidays to you and your family. May your break be restful and joyous (especially after grades are submitted 😊).

• Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Muhammad Ittefaq recently shared publication details on an article for which he served a lead author, with co-authors from institutions including Towson University, Arizona State University, University of Kansas, University of Maryland and Saint Mary's College Notre Dame. “Global news media coverage of artificial intelligence (AI): A comparative analysis of frames, sentiments, and trends across 12 countries” was published in Telematics and Informatics (Impact factor 7.6 and cite score 17.0).
  
  
• The “I’m Determined Project” had its debut feature film, Pulling Threads, accepted at the 2024 Richmond International Film Festival. It screened to a full audience and won the award for Breakthrough Ensemble (US). This film, a visual case study to help its audience better understand self-determination theory, was created in partnership with the College of Education and the Health Education Design Group (HEDG), part of JMU’s Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services. Collaborators include Jesse Rodriguez, executive producer; Kendal Swartzentruber, executive producer; Patrick Fitzgerald, director, writer and editor; Alex Kent, director of cinematography, writer and editor; Tim Estep, writer; and Brent Finnegan, post production manager.
  
  
• Amanda Evans, Professor in the Department of Graduate Psychology (Counseling Programs) and leader within the American Counseling Association (ACA), contributed her expertise in creating the eight-session “ACA Certificate in Counseling Interventions and Evidence-Based Treatment for Specific Issues with Children and Youth” through the ACA. These sessions offer counselors specialized training in strategies that address the challenges children and adolescents face today, including cyberbullying, trauma and discrimination. Dr. Evans joined colleagues across the nation to create the training, which is intended to serve professional counselors and counseling graduate students.
  
  
• Congratulations to Geology and Environmental Sciences Lecturer Susie Shomo for a recent student-driven recognition. She received the Most Valuable Professor award from JMU Women’s Basketball andMost Valuable Professor award from JMU Women’s Volleyball.
  
  
• Associate Professor of Political Science Abraham Goldberg was invited to the White House to discuss his work—including his recently published book—on civic engagement on college campuses. His scholarship was featured at a White House panel on Youth Civic and Voter Engagement in November, which he attended with two JMU students. His co-edited volume, Leaning Into Politics: Higher Education and the Democracy We Need with Information Age Publishing, provides a global and historical context on how authoritarian governments have targeted universities and offers a critical analysis on the inherent tensions between university calls for civility with academic freedom and freedom of expression. It also analyses ways that higher education adjacent nonprofit and philanthropic organizations shape—and sometimes even drive—institutional efforts to prepare students for engagement in our democracy and explores the development of a democratic ethos on college campuses, providing perspectives on how institutions can help students from across majors develop civic skills and dispositions through curricular and co-curricular programming. 
  
  
• Also making JMU known in Washington, D.C. were Christina Kilby, Department of Philosophy and Religion Unit Head and Professor, and 10 students from her Global Religions and Cultures capstone course. The students presented their original research to the U.S. Department of State in late November. Their work—part of JMU’s Diplomacy Lab program—addressed the role of Buddhist monks and nuns in environmental defense in southeast Asia and made recommendations for the Department of State to more effectively protect these activists from violence and unlawful detention. Department of State personnel said the JMU gave one of the best presentations they had ever seen! Their presentation was shared with more than 1,050 embassy and consulate posts around the globe.

I want to thank you for your dedication to your students and your scholarship as we wrap up the semester. I also appreciate that you have been sharing details about your work with us and look forward to hearing more about teaching and scholarship highlights for you and your colleagues in the new year. Please email provost@jmu.edu so we can continue to showcase your work. Have a safe and joyous holiday break.

Sincerely,

Bob

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