Welcome - August 2015

Greetings colleagues,

As the 2015-16 academic year commences, I want to take this opportunity to update you on important news and information relating to our campus community. We have a lot to be proud of!

• The Class of 2019
• An inspirational gift to support our faculty
• A Banner Year for Madison Giving
• Alison B. Parker Memorial Fund
• Compensation
• Work / Life Balance
• Madison Vision Series
• Valley Scholars welcomes second cohort
• Capital projects
• Parking facilities
• VITAL partnership
• JMU Environmental Stewardship Tour
• The Breeze Named a Top Student Newspaper... again
• Athletics News
• Rotary Scholarship

The Class of 2019

On behalf of the JMU community, I was excited to welcome the 4,400 new Dukes at the university welcome during 1787 Orientation. The JMU Class of 2019 represents 32 states and 23 countries. I can't wait to get to know them and see all the amazing things they will do.

An inspirational gift to support our faculty

It was inspiring to hear from our friend and donor Dick Roberts at the Opening Faculty Meeting. He came all the way from Virginia Beach to tell us in person how much JMU means to him and his wife, Shirley Hanson Roberts ('56), and why their latest gift to JMU has been designated for faculty support.

His message underscores what we heard on the Why Madison Presidential Listening Tour from students, professors, alumni and parents--that what makes JMU unique and superior is students' close relationships with professors. It's also why we have made certain to preserve and nurture that distinctive element of the Madison Experience for the future. It is a foundational component of the Madison Plan, JMU's strategic plan for the future.

On behalf of all of us in the Madison community, I want to thank Dick and Shirley for their continued commitment to JMU with this $1 million gift to establish the Shirley Hanson Roberts '56 and Richard D. Roberts Endowment for Faculty Support.

A Banner Year for Madison Giving

The Roberts gift was one of the major highlights of a banner year in fundraising. I'm proud to say that fiscal year 2015 was JMU's largest giving year in history. Our donors made contributions totaling more than $18 million. For the first time, total individual major gifts of $8.2 million surpassed that of our bedrock annual fund giving, which also celebrated a banner year with almost $5.3 million. Organizations gave more than $3.2 million, and estate giving totaled almost $1.4 million.

With leadership from the Robertses, faculty support tripled from $502 to $1.7 million last year. Program support more than doubled from FY14 to FY15, from $2.4 million to $4.9 million. Capital support increased to $5.6 million for the proposed Convocation Center and CoB Learning Complex.

Our success in giving is due to the generosity of more than 17,582 donors who gave us their input during the listening tour and then embraced that input included in the initiatives set forth in the Madison Plan. In this way, we are charting JMU's future course together. I thank all of our donors--faculty and staff, students, parents, alumni and friends. You all contribute to making the Madison Experience what it is.

Alison B. Parker Memorial Fund

As many of you know, James Madison University mourns the loss of 2012 alumna Alison Parker. She was a promising, young journalist who was murdered along with her colleague on Wednesday morning. At the request of her family, the university has created the Alison B. Parker Memorial Fund to benefit students in the School of Media Arts and Design. Alison loved her time here at Madison and her family could think of no better way to celebrate her life than to honor her in perpetuity. To give to the fund, visit http://bit.ly/1K3SgXq. While we all grieve the loss of anyone from our Madison family, I'd like to express my deepest condolences to those who knew Alison during her time here and through her involvement as an engaged alumna. She truly embodied the Madison experience and she will be sorely missed.

Compensation

As most of you are aware, the university was able to partner with the General Assembly and the governor to provide a 2 percent merit increase for most employees that will be reflected in their Aug. 31, 2015 pay advice. In addition to this increase, the university leadership has identified resources for several strategically important internal compensation initiatives. These compensation adjustments are effective Nov. 25, 2015, and will be reflected in the Dec. 16 pay advice. The initiatives include a variable 1 percent merit increase for instructional faculty, salary inversion and compression assistance for instructional faculty as well as administrative and professional faculty with more than 10 years of continuous service and an in-band adjustment process for classified employees. For complete details on eligibility, click here.

Work / Life Balance

I am pleased to report that Human Resources has been working in partnership with the senior leadership team to enhance employees work / life balance through a variety of means. Human Resources has created a new Work / Life Balance and Wellness Council to showcase and promote work / life and wellness benefits and resources available to employees. Additionally, the creation of employee resource groups that will draw together employees who share similar experiences will hopefully create a more enriching, inclusive and engaging workplace for all employees. In addition to recently announcing a Roth 403B as an investment option, Human Resources is also on the verge of being able to offer a number other benefits including discounted identity theft protection and access to an expanded list of discounts and perks at local retailers, restaurants and services around town. Finally, I am pleased to announce once again that, to enhance your flexibility during the summer, we will once again operate on a modified schedule during the summer of 2016 allowing employees to leave work after noon on Fridays.

Madison Vision Series

Law Professor Stewart Harris opens the third year of the Madison Vision Series: Contemporary Issues in an Engaged Society on Constitution Day, Sept. 17. Harris teaches at Appalachian School of Law and hosts National Public Radio's "Your Weekly Constitution." As part of his lecture, Harris will be taping an upcoming episode of the nationally syndicated radio show. Join the audience at 3:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts. Harris' lecture, and all Madison Vision Series presentations, are open the public free of charge. Dr. George Kuh, director of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (Oct. 8), Russ Reeder, JMU alumnus and CEO of iCitizen, an online platform for communication among civic-minded individuals (Oct. 22), and Dr. Danielle S. Allen, a political philosopher widely known for her work on justice and citizenship (Nov. 19), complete the fall semester's Madison Vision Series slate of stellar speakers.

Valley Scholars welcomes second cohort

The Valley Scholars program has welcomed its second cohort of 35 students this fall. These scholars are academically motivated eighth graders from economically disadvantaged circumstances from eight local middle schools. Valley Scholars creates an opportunity for these students to benefit from mentorship and academic enrichment experiences from eighth grade through high school graduation. When the students qualify for admission to JMU, they will receive full scholarships covering tuition and fees. We are delighted to invest in this important enterprise for the future of the Shenandoah Valley. By providing initial funding, leadership, staff and management, programming, expertise and infrastructure, we will guide our three pilot cohorts of local students through their nine-year program. We currently have 70 students enrolled, and our goal is to expand the program to a total enrollment each year of 315 students representing 16 schools from the Shenandoah Valley when the program is fully funded. To learn more about the program and schedule, visit the Valley Scholars webpage.

Capital projects

As is often the case, we begin the academic year with a new exciting building on campus. JMU's first apartment-style residence hall, Apartments on Grace, opened this month and its 507 residents begin to move in today. The 200,000-square-foot building is awaiting LEED Silver certification and includes a sand volleyball and a basketball court to encourage a sense of community and physical fitness. Other recently completed projects include the Newman Lake Dam restoration and a renovation of Lakeview Hall - the former WVPT television studios. Lakeview Hall is now home to several collaborative academic programs including 4-VA, JMU X-Labs and the Center for Assessment and Research Studies. There are a number of exciting projects in progress including the UREC expansion and the D-Hall replacement. For a complete list, click here.

Parking facilities

A number of parking options were added over the summer to compensate for the loss of about 300 spaces due to the construction of the new Mason Street Parking Deck. The university has added nearly 800 new spaces throughout campus. New parking options this year include more commuter spaces on Grace Street, additional commuter spaces on Harrison Street, expanded resident parking on South High Street near Memorial Hall and a new remote parking lot at a discounted price. Since many of these new spaces are on the periphery of campus, we are asking members of the JMU community to plan ahead when making parking decisions. The new Mason Street Parking Deck and its 1,000 new parking spaces is scheduled for completion in August 2016.

VITAL partnership

I am pleased to report that JMU is among nine state universities that have signed on as partners of the Virginia International Trade Alliance, a new initiative to boost Virginia businesses in the international marketplace. As partners to VITAL, state universities will identify companies that have international business as a corporate strategy and conduct international research to position these companies for global expansion. VITAL also will partner with trade associations and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce to serve their member companies as they increase their international sales. JMU joins with Christopher Newport University, College of William and Mary, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Mary Washington, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute and Virginia Tech to help VITAL achieve its goals of increasing Virginia exports, creating jobs and increasing the number of companies enrolled in the state's international trade programs.

JMU Environmental Stewardship Tour

The JMU Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability has created, in conjunction with a number of campus partners, a fascinating campus tour that highlights many of the sites on campus where facilities, environmental stewardship and learning are interconnected. The tour is currently online but beginning in October, you will notice purple and white markers around campus that indicate an environmental stewardship tour site. Each of the markers will have a QR code to point individuals to more information about the site. I encourage everyone to take a minute and learn more about our environmental stewardship efforts on campus.

The Breeze Named a Top Student Newspaper... again

JMU's already award-winning student newspaper earned a nod from The Princeton Review in its annual survey of college students. The Breeze is ranked No. 11 in the Best College Newspaper category in "The Best 380 Colleges: 2016 Edition," the guide the education services company publishes to spotlight outstanding colleges and universities. The annual guide includes profiles of each institution and rankings in 62 categories.

Athletics News

In the world of college athletics, it's an exciting time of year. Every school feels invigorated for a new beginning with optimism for a big season from each of its sports programs. The hard work by coaches, staff and student-athletes during the spring and summer will be on display at our competition venues. At James Madison, we have much to be proud of from last year and much to look forward to in 2015-16.

The development of our strategic plan, Engaged in Excellence, was a major achievement of the past year. Its focus on the experience of our student-athletes will continue to steer our decision-making leading up to 2020, and its importance in regard to revenue growth will make that focus possible.

This year we welcome some new faces to the Athletics staff. Tim Foley has been promoted to head coach for men's soccer, and Marlin Ikenberry joins us to lead the baseball team. Our new radio play-by-play announcer is Dave Thomas.

What's fall without football? James Madison will enter the 2015 season nationally ranked in the STATS FCS Preseason Top 25. The Dukes were picked 12th in the major media poll. The Dukes were also picked 13th in the FCS Coaches Poll, marking the first time in three years that they were ranked in the top 15 of both polls heading into the season. Madison opens the 2015 season on Saturday, Sept. 5, against Morehead State at 6 p.m. at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Each of the JMU Fall sports are expecting big seasons in 2015 with each picked in the top half of the conference’s preseason polls and each expected to contend for a league title. Men’s soccer returns much of its 2014 squad as the Dukes look to defend their CAA crown. Volleyball and field hockey were each picked ahead of last year’s finishes with second-place CAA predictions and high expectations. In the program’s 26th season, all under Dave Lombardo, women’s soccer was picked to finish third in the CAA.  Cross-country will be seeking its eighth title in its 16th season under Dave Rinker.  Go Dukes!    

For additional athletics news click here.

Rotary Scholarship

Congratulations to Claire Elverum, a senior international affairs major and honors student from Chesapeake, Virginia, who was selected for a Rotary District 7570 Skelton/Jones Scholarship. The scholarship provides up to $30,000 to fund one year of post-baccalaureate study at a recognized university in a country other than the United States or Canada. Claire's first choice program is a master's degree in development studies at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. She is also considering the University of Cape Town in South Africa and the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in the United Kingdom.

I wish you a productive and rewarding year as we engage with new and returning students and with each other to further James Madison University's mission to prepare students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives.

Sincerely,
Jonathan R. Alger
President