Heart and Soul
Six JMU alumni have found their niche inside the sprawling $200 million-a-year media giant, Black Entertainment Television, the first black-owned media enterprise aimed at black consumers, which now reaches more than 55 million cable households.

The Learning Challenge
Alvin V. Baird Jr. knows what it's like to grow up with a learning disability. Now he and his wife, Nancy Chappelear Baird ('40), have made JMU's largest gift ever to help others overcome similar learning challenges. Their $1.5 million contribution also challenges others to help create a $2 million endowment for the university's new Attention and Learning Disabilities Center.

Judging Barbara
When a promising new show about a divorced mother and juvenile court judge wasn't going to make the CBS lineup, Barbara Hall ('82) got a call. The veteran TV writer and producer revamped it from a woman's perspective and turned it into Judging Amy, a network hit.

Down and Dirty in Paradise
Ten virtual strangers share a house on a rugged Caribbean island, beautifying the streets and creating trash disposal remedies for natives. No, it's not Survivor or another "reality TV show." It's 10 JMU alumni in the first-ever Alumni Alternative Service Break project in Dominica.

Digging Into the Past
In 1979-80, anthropology students and professors tackled the largest archaeological dig in VirginiaŐs history. Uncovering thou-sands of artifacts via hard labor and camping out in austere conditions bound professors and students in a closeness beyond any classroom.

A "24/7" Education
To prepare students to lead productive and meaningful lives requires that we reach beyond traditional classroom to equip graduates with the strength of character and self-confidence to know that they can be agents of positive change.

Forging a National Identity
As James Madison ascended the presidency of the government he had helped create, an identity based on genuine nationhood and pride had yet to be built. Not until the final days of Madison's second term would there be a Star Spangled Banner and the popular inclination to sing it. In between there would come repeated tests to the national resolve behind the idealistic piece of parchment known as the Constitution.

Cinderella Cook
Although Jacqueline Cook ('97) didn't win the Miss America crown on Oct. 14, just competing was a fairy tale. The reigning Miss Virginia vied among 51 young women for the national title that represents the pinnacle of all-American beauty, brains, talent and ambition.