Charge:
- Develop the Campus Commemorative Landscape mapping project to inform and make recommendations with regard to naming plans and commemorative opportunities moving forward.
- Examine the JMU story that is told by or in various publications, offices and groups (e.g., the Student Ambassadors) about the history of campus and develop ways the story being told to our various constituents (including current and prospective students, parents, alumni, the community, etc.) can be more inclusive and complete.
Members:
- Meg Mulrooney, Department of History; Faculty Affairs and Curriculum, Chair
- Rebecca Barge, Center for Multicultural Student Services
- Ruthie Bosch, Department of Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities; Hispanic Faculty Caucus
- Monyette Martin, Enrollment Management
- Carole Nash (’83), School of Integrated Sciences
- Leonard Richards, College of Education
- Karen Risch Mott (’20M), University Advancement
- Craig Short, Administration and Finance
- Lexy Stover, Annual Giving
- Grace Treml, Student Representative
Work of the Committee:
Remembering the Sounds: JMU’s Contemporary Gospel Singers: February 20, 2024
For Black History Month 2024, the Campus History Committee sponsored with the Center for Multicultural Student Services (CMSS) and with support from Alumni Relations a fascinating and moving webinar that explored the significant impact CGS had on this institution from its founding in 1974 to the new millennium. The 80 minute webinar begins with a brief (silent) slideshow featuring historic CGS images, followed by a welcome and several short panels. Speakers in order of appearance:
- (Welcome) Meg Mulrooney, CHC Chair & Professor of History
- (Panel 1) Stanley Stewart, CGS President, 1977-78; Byron Bullock, inaugural director CMSS, 1985-99; Troy Strong, CGS President, 1985-86.
- (Panel 2) Lisa Winn Bryan (’90, ’93), CGS soloist and director, 1988-90, advisor 1991-93; Rev. Daron Thomas (’94), CGS director, 1992-94; Anthony Lindsay Baker (’91), CGS director, 1989-91; Dr. Carolyn Gordon, CGS faculty advisor, 1989-92.
- (Part 3: Today & Tomorrow) Monyette Martin (’93, ’96), CGS member, Asst. Dean of Admissions, and DeAndrae Powell, Asst. Director, CMSS
- (Part 4) Q&A and conclusion featuring a 2009 CGS performance from JMU’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day ceremony.
The CGS history slideshow is also on view in February inside ‘A Sense of Place’, the campus history exhibit inside Wilson Hall.
Visit the Campus History Committee’s Linktree to find our social media channels and other important resources online.
Released Feb. 23, 2021: ”Reclaiming, Renaming, Repairing: The Campus History Committee Report.” Our most urgent endeavor in 2020 was to make recommendations for renaming JMU buildings bearing names of persons associated with racist ideologies and practices, starting with the three formerly named after Confederate figures. On Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, the university’s Board of Visitors voted to approve three new names for buildings on campus. This is the culmination of research, study, community consultation and open communication about progress toward renaming these prominent sites on the JMU Quad. Read more about the historic decision: “ JMU leadership approves new names for three buildings on campus.”
This committee continues the work of the History and Context Committee (2016-2019) of the President’s Task Force on Inclusion.
Reports:
