Programming by which James Madison University (JMU) reaches out to Virginia public schools with 50% or more free lunch student populations to promote postsecondary education dates back to 2004. The Office of Access and Educational Outreach in the Division of Access and Enrollment Management facilitates engaged learning and community engagement initiatives by assigning faculty to each of our partner Middle and High schools via the Professor-in-Residence (PIR) program. In collaboration with the Office of Admissions, we host Middle School students on campus and help pupils to envision college—efforts that are consistent with recent SCHEV and VA Department of Education goals. In the effort to enhance inclusive excellence, our Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program networks and host dissertation-year fellows from Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). These educational outreach endeavors are in sync with the institutional core qualities of expanding access and to “building bridges across existing socioeconomic, geographic, and learning barrier” and thus contribute to making our students successful to meet the needs of the Commonwealth.

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