New faculty spotlight: Michelle L. Herman brings interactive design, VR/AR expertise to SMAD

Oct 13, 2024: Michelle L. Herman, SMAD's newest professor in the Interactive Design concentration, brings a vast and deep background in virtual reality and fine arts, as well as professional experience.

Video expertise, teaching makes SMAD professor a Game Changer

Oct 11, 2024: SMAD technology director and instructor John Hodges (’78) was recognized as a “Game Changer” Thursday during a JMU football game.

Inside the minds of young voters

Sep 20, 2024: Tomorrow’s leaders are striving to improve the state of American democracy.

Remembering those we’ve lost

Sep 17, 2024: Last September, we lost two precious members of the College of Arts and Letters community.

Recognizing excellence in administration

Sep 17, 2024: Rebecca White is an award-winning standout in her role within the history department.

'JMU gave me a springboard'

Sep 17, 2024: Malcolm Taylor’s (‘82) esteemed career of service and mentorship started with a chance JMU encounter.

Advancing youth justice at JMU and beyond

Sep 17, 2024: The Innovation Center for Youth Justice and Makaela Parker (‘25) are seizing opportunities to advance youth justice across the nation.

Tackling global diplomacy

Sep 17, 2024: The new College of Arts and Letters Diplomacy & Defense Lab, under the leadership of Bernie Kaussler, professor of political science, enables students to apply classroom learning to real-world problems.

Uncovering history: Archaeology at JMU

Sep 17, 2024: Anthropology Professor Dennis Blanton and his students are finding pieces of the puzzle that is human history.

Writing the fantastic, scholastic, and real

Sep 17, 2024: Sofia Samatar, associate professor of english, balances her award-winning writing career with her equally successful teaching and research.

Forging community connections

Sep 17, 2024: Karina Kline-Gabel (‘92), Assistant Dean for CAL, works to uplift student and faculty voices and cultivate a community in which everyone belongs.

Professor pens best-selling book about bookstores

Sep 13, 2024: Landing on the New York Times list “feels like a lifetime achievement.”

Collaborative leadership: JMU MPA program appoints co-directors

Sep 11, 2024: The JMU MPA program is utilizing a new leadership approach and has appointed Dr. Rob Alexander and Dr. Sombo Muzata as its directors. The directors share their thoughts on how they will move the program forward

Breeze journalists to compete for national SPJ honors

Aug 7, 2024: The student-run news organization won the "Best All-Around Student Newspaper" in the Mid-Atlantic regional Society of Professional Journalists competition.

Breeze, Breeze TV win 14 Virginia Press Association awards

Aug 5, 2024: Competing against professional news organizations across Virginia, students won 14 awards for journalism and advertising in the annual VPA contest.

JMU students engage with European policymakers

Jun 25, 2024: For the 6th consecutive year, JMU students participated in the Schuman Challenge at the Delegation of the European Union to the United States

Ethical Leadership and Professionalism from Italy to Africa

Jun 20, 2024: The U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa team shares their advice on leadership and professionalism in an ever-changing workplace with the EUPS 2024 cohort.

Santi Apostoli

Jun 20, 2024: Marisol Powell ('24) writes about her experience living in Florence and visiting the city's most ancient religious sites.

Fostering Innovation in the Middle East

Jun 20, 2024: Alexandra Wilson Tuman ('24) interviews Christina Craver ('12) about her experiences living and working in Dubai, to highlight the benefits and challenges of living and working abroad.

Letter from the Director

Jun 20, 2024: Our alumni survey speaks to how our graduates value their time in this program.

Modeling the Way with Model EU

Jun 20, 2024: Noah Buracker ('24) shares his perspective on serving as the High Representative/Vice President during the 2023 Model EUP Simulation and embracing cultural exchange and international networking.

Bridging Skies and Borders

Jun 20, 2024: EUPS alumna, Liz Hammer ('14), the Chief of Air and Space at the U.S. Embassy in London, shares her insight on professional growth and career development from across the pond.

JMU faculty partner with African universities through a fellowship

May 28, 2024: Three JMU faculty members received support from the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program to partner with African higher education institutions.

History professor awarded 4-VA Grant

May 9, 2024: Fawn-Amber Montoya was awarded a $25,000 grant to support her project “Voces: Centering the Latino/x Experience Through Pedagogy and Research.”

SMAD honors 2024 graduates and scholarship winners

May 5, 2024: SMAD doled out more than $40,000 in scholarships to incoming and returning students and honored top performers from the class of ’24, which started at JMU amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Madison Inc. cohort celebrates startup success

May 2, 2024: Showcasing student entrepreneurs and their startup ideas

Charting a new course

Apr 25, 2024: A collaborative approach enhances the 14th Annual Interdisciplinary African, African American & Diaspora Studies (AAAD) Conference.

Announcing the 2024 Public Service Awards honorees

Apr 23, 2024: Public Service Awards at James Madison University has announced the 2024 honorees, recognizing four Valley residents for their exemplary public service work.

JMU Speech Team Earns Top 20 Spot at National Competition

Apr 10, 2024: The JMU Speech Team placed 16th in the nation while competing at the American Forensic Association’s National Speech Tournament, with two students earning spots on the 16-person 2024 All-American Team.

SMAD students win silver ADDY award for local co-op’s campaign

Mar 17, 2024: Creative Advertising students’ work to revamp a “stale promotion” at the food co-op, winning second place in an advertising competition.

Performing her civic duty

Mar 8, 2024: Whitney Rice ('09) used her experience in JMU's Speech Club to forge an acting career in Hollywood.

Students tackle real-world U.S. security issues abroad

Mar 1, 2024: Hacking for Diplomacy participants pitch their ideas to officials at the Department of State.

Students inspired by Smart Cities Conference in Indonesia

Feb 28, 2024: The conference united students and educators from 60 countries for workshops, lectures and cultural experiences.

Navigating paths: A double Duke’s journey from JMU English to assistant editor

Feb 26, 2024: Mattie Montgomery (’18, ’22M) shares insights into her transformative experiences, highlighting impactful classes and professors that shaped her perspective.

Children’s author and presenter combines passion for writing and love of animals

Feb 19, 2024: Ginjer L. Clarke (’94) loves to learn new things and translate that knowledge into fun, fact-filled children’s books.

Turning the first page

Feb 16, 2024: Rachel McRady (’11) promotes her debut novel in a place she loves.

Welcome Mollie Stambler, Ph.D.

Feb 8, 2024: Mollie Stambler, Ph.D., has completed a variety of different projects from historical archival research to usability testing/UX to surveys and interviews.

JMU accepted into State Department refugee program

Feb 1, 2024: JMU will welcome two refugee students from Africa as part of the university’s acceptance into a new State Department program.

A Liberal Arts Legacy Fund Teacher-Scholar

Jan 31, 2024: The Legacy Fund, established in 2012, supports projects proposed by “teacher-scholar” faculty who involve students in their field-advancing research like Gianluca De Fazio, associate professor of justice studies.

Staying Connected

Jan 31, 2024: Maureen Walsh (‘91, History), an environmental lobbyist with SMART Group Policy and President of the CAL Alumni Board (for a second term), speaks to her career success and how she stays engaged as an alum.

Campus to Career: Linking Liberal Arts Education to Success

Jan 31, 2024: This past September, George Anders, senior editor at LinkedIn and best-selling author of visited JMU to share his expertise and advice during a campus-wide event.

The Heart of Administrative Service

Jan 31, 2024: Sandra Purington, Senior Administrative Assistant in the School of Writing, Rhetoric & Technical Communication (WRTC), is a vital part of the administration in our college.

Creating Space: Be)Holding Love & Loss

Jan 31, 2024: This past fall, Michael Trocchia orchestrated “Be)Holding Love & Loss,” an ambitious interdisciplinary arts and humanities events series on grief.

Writing the Headlines

Jan 31, 2024: Senior Grant Johnson (‘24) has become adept at time-management skills while at JMU — if only to ensure he finds campus parking. The editor-in-chief of The Breeze, he interned with The Washington Post last summer.

Independent Studies, Beyond JMU

Jan 31, 2024: Frances Flannery and a cohort of three undergraduates — Sydney Dudley, Abigeal Cronan, and Sage Boyer — are influencing biblical studies on a national level.

Living History in the Classroom

Jan 31, 2024: For three weeks of the semester, Alison Sandman transforms her Wilson Hall classroom into a nineteenth-century English town: part town hall, part marketplace, part public house.

NEH Supports Faculty Research on Aging and the Founding Fathers

Jan 31, 2024: Rebecca Brannon was awarded an NEH fellowship for her project, “Old Age in the Wake of the American Revolution,” exploring the ways our Founding Fathers dealt with their fears of aging and loss of status as they aged.

Teaching Rhetoric and Cultural Awareness

Jan 31, 2024: Ja’La Wourman creates classrooms to help students share and explore freely as they develop frameworks for writing and communication that honor their identities, backgrounds and cultures.

History professor Steven Reich wins NEH Fellowship

Jan 30, 2024: Steven Reich will write a book that expands his project, “Buzzards Over Texas: A Story of Race, Violence and the Search for Justice in the Jim Crow South.”

JMU to host international conference on accountability in Washington, D.C.

Jan 24, 2024: On Feb. 7–9, JMU’s Washington Center will play host to the Accountability in African Public Policy and Administration conference.

SMAD alumna to discuss debut novel at Feb. 1 event

Jan 10, 2024: An Emmy-winning writer/editor and 2011 SMAD grad just published her debut novel and will host a Feb. 1 event in Harrisonburg as part of her book release.

Arkansas poet laureate lets her writing do the talking

Dec 29, 2023: Suzanne Underwood Rhodes (’72) teaches the healing power of poetry.

Military, dependents find support through JMU VALOR

Dec 18, 2023: Dukes cheerleader, ROTC cadet and Marine veteran Jonah Posada will have a unique perspective on Dec. 23 as he cheers on JMU in its first bowl game: the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Picture of a Journey to Florence

Nov 30, 2023: New EUPS professor at JMU Florence campus, Christine Bakker, PhD, shares her professional journey, her experience working for the European Commission, and how she came to live in Florence, Italy full-time.

A Window into the Consulting World

Nov 30, 2023: Married JMU alumni, Mr. Richard Shapiro and Mrs. Alexis Shapiro stop by Florence, Italy to lead a consulting workshop and share their professional advice with the EUPS cohort.

JMU Duke Puts Down Roots in Italy

Nov 30, 2023: JMU Semester in Florence alumnus, Mr. Andrew Spannaus, speaks with students about his experience living in Milan and building a successful international career.

Il Conventino

Nov 30, 2023: Across the Ponte Vecchio, this historical social hub bridges cultures and communities.

A Changing Environment

Nov 30, 2023: The EUPS program ensures students are ready to enter the rapidly changing job market with practical experience.

Trekking to the Capitol

Aug 1, 2017: On a recent Career trek, CAL Alumni Board member Matt Wasniewski (’91, ‘94M), Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives, hosted JMU students at the Library of Congress.