Introduction

Founded in 1908 and located in the center of Virginia’s famous Shenandoah Valley, James Madison University is a public, comprehensive university. The university offers programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialist and doctoral levels. The total enrollment for fall 2006 session was 16,970. This total included 15,653 undergraduate students, 1,030 graduate students, 106 non-degree seeking graduate students and 181 non-degree seeking undergraduate students. JMU has 101 major campus buildings, including a 31-acre, off-campus farm. JMU offers students a full program of extracurricular and social programs, as well as a diversified program of intercollegiate and intramural athletics.

Location

JMU is located in Harrisonburg, Va., a progressive city of over 40,000. The area is flanked by the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east and the Allegheny Mountains on the west. The JMU campus is located just off Interstate 81 and is a two-hour drive from Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va., and one hour from Charlottesville, Va. The College of Graduate and Outreach Programs is located in the Grace Street House at 17 West Grace Street.

History

In its 99-year history, JMU has grown from a state normal and industrial school for women to today’s coeducational comprehensive university. In 1914, the name of the university was changed to the State Normal School for Women at Harrisonburg. The university became the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg in 1924 and continued under that name until 1938, when it was named Madison College in honor of the fourth president of the United States. In 1977, the name was changed to James Madison University.

The College of Graduate and Outreach Programs

The JMU Graduate School was established in 1954, when the State Board of Education authorized the university to offer programs leading to the Master of Science in Education degree. In October 2001, the Graduate School and the Office of Continuing Education joined to form the College of Graduate and Professional Programs. Continuing Education became Outreach Programs in 2006, and the college was renamed the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs that year. The College of Graduate and Outreach Programs is authorized to offer graduate programs leading to master’s degrees, Educational Specialist degrees, Doctor of Audiology degrees, Doctor of Philosophy degrees, Doctor of Psychology and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees.

Mission

It is the mission of the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs to support, facilitate and promote excellence in lifelong education through graduate programs of distinction, innovative outreach programs and a diverse student body. The mission of the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs is in concert with the overall mission of the university, which states: We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives.

Administration of the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs

The office of the dean of the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs has academic responsibility for all issues of graduate education at JMU. In addition, the college oversees all continuing outreach development programming. Significant in the organization and administration of the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs are the university’s Graduate Council and the graduate faculty body.

The Graduate Council

The Graduate Council is the chief policy-forming and advisory body for the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs. Its duties are to formulate, review, and approve or recommend for approval policies and other items concerning the conduct of graduate study at James Madison University and to provide leadership in advocating for graduate education and scholarship of the highest caliber. The Graduate Council actions are reported to the graduate faculty, to college deans and to appropriate administrators of the university. The primary aim of including the Graduate Council in the organization of JMU is to facilitate graduate program faculty participation in the establishment of university policies and procedures.

Responsibilities of the Graduate Council

The Graduate Council is specifically charged with

Communicating policy on issues affecting graduate education.
Monitoring and advocating excellence in graduate education.
Setting the broad framework for all graduate study.
Making recommendations on all policies with regard to graduate degrees and any changes or additions to such policies.
Making recommendations on procedures for student appeals for waivers of any graduate regulations, excluding grade and admission appeals, after appropriate appeals have been made according to the procedures of the respective graduate programs.
Setting the requirements for membership to the Graduate Faculty and for the approval of faculty it deems to have met those requirements.

Graduate Faculty

The graduate faculty hold a position of honor at JMU. Through the Graduate Council, the graduate faculty members assist the dean in developing general policies and administrative procedures for graduate programs. The office of the dean of the College of Graduate and Outreach Programs, assisted by the Graduate Council and the graduate faculty, has responsibility for final approval of graduate degrees to be awarded.