Dear Colleagues,

Thank you to everyone who attended today’s Academic Affairs/REDI open forum on JMU’s strategic plan, the Madison Promise. I want to apologize for the technical issues that affected the session and prevented some attendees from fully engaging in the discussion. We know this was frustrating and appreciate your patience as we worked through the issues.

Despite the disruption, I came away from the meeting genuinely optimistic that our university can continue to grow stronger as we direct our collective talents toward the plan’s ambitious goals.

To keep you up to date as we make progress toward the strategic plan goals, we’ve created a webpage focused on the role of Academic Affairs in the Madison Promise. The site compiles background information, like the development process and reports from the teams that created recommendations to develop each pillar, and it will be regularly updated with the status of Academic Affairs initiatives and responses to your questions. You can also submit your questions about the Madison Promise.

Read on for a small sample of the interesting research going on across campus.

• Assistant professor of Music Education Dr. Rachel Grimsby recently published The Practitioners Guide to Accessible Music Education: Perspectives from Educators, Administrators, and Special Service Providers. Rachel served as lead editor and contributing author of the volume. A reviewer noted the text was  “… a wonderful “you-can-do-it” guide for music educators committed to high-quality, accessible learning for students with and without disabilities. Written in a collegial, workshop-style voice, it feels like talking with trusted colleagues, sharing practical strategies that guide teacher techniques and scope while inspiring thoughtful, inclusive practice. It broadens your perspective, helps you examine implicit bias, and sparks creative, collaborative approaches so every student feels they belong and can thrive.” 
  
  
• Dr. Lindsey Harvell-Bowman, professor in the School of Communication Studies, and her team at Hiroshima University have been awarded a grant from the US-Japan Foundation for "Healing Through Harmony: An Existential and Relational Approach to Cross-Cultural Suicide Prevention in Japan and the United States." Dr. Harvell-Bowman and her team will complete research and produce a bilingual toolkit for suicide prevention that will be disseminated across Japan in workshops for stakeholders in August 2027. The US-Japan Foundation is an independent philanthropic organization working to strengthen bilateral ties and address shared challenges while empowering next-generation leaders and fund innovative initiatives, catalyzing collaboration and exchange among stakeholders in search of solutions.
  
  
• Dr. Diane Phoenix-Neal, associate professor in the School of Music, and Dr. Delores Phillips, director of the African, African American and Diaspora Studies Center, coordinated the inaugural AAAD Arts Lyceum last week. They secured funding through the Madison Trust’s 2025 cycle of funding for projects featuring innovation and imagination. Designed as a residency, the event welcomed internationally acclaimed American soprano Angela Brown, known for her powerful and Grammy awarded performances of opera, classical vocal arts, gospel, jazz and popular song, to engage with students and community and to perform in concert. She and pianist Paige Crain presented an exhilarating program at the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Brown also gave an inspiring keynote address for the JMU community and a two-hour public masterclass featuring performances by School of Music vocal arts students. As part of this interdisciplinary event, an interactive presentation by Dr. Courtney Murray Ross, assistant professor of English, featured lyrics and poems performed during Angela Brown’s concert.
  
  
• Rocket Science: To the Moon and Beyond, a new book by Dr. Caroline Lubert, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, just hit the UK market. The book will be released in the U.S. in March 2027.   

As this week comes to a close, I’d like to thank each of you who supported colleagues and students in this difficult week. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the two students we lost. I hope you can find time this weekend to rest and to connect with people you love.

Please continue to send your accomplishments to provost@jmu.edu.

Sincerely,

Fletcher

Academic Affairs faculty and staff can email to contact the provost directly.

This is an open line of communication allowing faculty and staff to ask questions, but it is not a substitute from the crucial interactions they have with their academic unit head, department head and dean.

Students should contact AcademicQuestions@jmu.edu with questions.