Dear Colleagues,

Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope you each got some well-deserved rest and relaxation over the winter break. I’m trying to contain my delight at some proper winter weather, although that early January snow was heavy to shovel – I think we might be out of practice after the last couple of winters!?!

I know you’re excited to start the new term, and we’ve got a great slate of accomplishments by your colleagues to start us off.

• If your new year’s resolution included reading more, check out the Next Big Idea Club’s January 2025 Must Read pick, Our New Social Life: Science-Backed Strategies for Creating Meaningful Connection, by Natalie Kerr and Dr. Jaime Kurtz, professors in the Department of Psychology. According to Oxford University Press, “key barriers to social connection are introduced, and evidence-based strategies for overcoming them are presented” within the text.
  
  
• Congratulations to Lori Patton, executive assistant to the dean in the College of Arts and Letters, who was recently awarded the Certified Administrative Professional designation from the International Association of Administrative Professionals. The recognition is awarded bi-annually to those who apply, sit for and pass the three-hour, 225 question exam.
  
  
• I’m also pleased to recognize two College of Education faculty members who received a prestigious award from the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. Associate Professor Amanda Sawyer and Assistant Professor Dr. Marcus Wolfe received the 2025 National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellowship, which “recognizes exemplary presentations related to integration of technology in core content areas” within mathematics, science, English language arts and social studies education, for their manuscript Exploring Preserve Teachers’ Adaptations of ChatGPT Created Mathematics Curricula: Discovering Overconfidence.
  
  
• The College of Science and Mathematics continues to produce joint faculty/student research. Department of Biology associate professor Rocky Parker’s collaboration with two 2021 biology graduates resulted in the article “Field-Based Observations of Strike-Induced Chemosensory Searching (SICS) in Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) Reveal a Potential Role for Olfaction via Ventilation Patterns,” which was published in Ichthyology & Herpetology.
  
  
• College of Education professor Melanie Shoffner and a recent JMU College of Education graduate recently co-authored “You Write What You Want and What You Need: Incorporating Reflective Practice in the ELA Classroom Through Caring Pedagogy” in Reflective Practices: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
  
  
• In addition to students, our colleagues are collaborating with peers in other JMU divisions. A JMU team, including Sara Finney (CARS) and Ph.D. students in Assessment and Measurement, alongside Dr. Jonathan Stewart from Student Affairs, received the national Excellence in Equity-Centered Assessment award from ACPA–College Student Educators International. They developed the Meta-Assessment Rubric—a tool designed over two years to embed equity into assessment processes, enhance campus policies, and better support minoritized and underserved student populations, setting a new standard for equity-focused assessment in higher education. Learn more directly from the students involved online.

I look forward to hearing more about teaching and scholarship highlights and other accomplishments for you and your colleagues this year. Please email provost@jmu.edu so we can continue to showcase your work.

Sincerely,

Bob

Academic Affairs faculty and staff can use the options below 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.

• Submit a Question to the Provost
• Email the Provost

Students should contact AcademicQuestions@jmu.edu with questions.