Spring Semester Welcome 2015

Dear Madison Community,

Welcome back to campus. I hope everyone enjoyed a restful winter break and that you’ve come back to JMU motivated for another semester of learning and working together. My family and I had a chance to visit sunny Florida over break—I am wishing for some of that warmth now!Even between semesters, there is still much going on, and many in our community continue to work and represent Madison across the globe.

As we begin a new academic term, I want to share a few updates with you.

• December Commencement
• Marching Band in Rome
• Madison Giving Over the Holiday
• IT Security Update
• MLK Speaker
• Madison Vision Series
• Post-Collegiate Outcomes Meeting
• Third Council for Higher Education Accreditation Award



December 2014 Commencement

“Show up. Be nice to people. Remember JMU.” This was the advice of the Honorable Levar Stoney to the 849 JMU students who graduated on December 13. The Secretary of the Commonwealth and JMU alumnus gave a commencement address in which he shared his own life lessons and the positive impact Madison continues to have on his own life. He encouraged the December graduates to “make your voice heard” and “make a difference in the lives of others." The address conveyed the perfect message to inspire our Dukes as they venture out into the world, and I took immense pride on conferring Ph.D., master’s and undergraduate degrees.



Marching Band in Rome

The Marching Royal Dukes represented JMU in the New Year’s Day Parade in Rome, performing at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican following the Pope’s New Year’s Blessing. A total of 250 band members and 100 parents, family, friends and alumni participated in this wonderful cultural exchange.

The MRDs had the opportunity to perform for thousands of people in this time-honored tradition. The band played great Italian favorites such as Verdi’s Requiem and the Pines of Rome, and concluded with Salvation is Created. What it must have felt like for our JMU students to stand among thousands and participate in this awe-inspiring event!

While in Italy, the band also visited the Vatican Museums, the Basilica, Ancient Rome, the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. I wish we had all been able to join the trip and see the many sights and wonders the MRDs toured in Florence, Rome and Siena. I am proud of the great impression our Dukes left on the Italian people.

To see more of the Marching Royal Dukes' March on Rome visit https://www.facebook.com/JMUMarchingRoyalDukes/posts/10153068071145774

Madison Giving Over the Holiday

During the holiday when the university was closed, JMU donors contributed almost 10 percent of the donations made to JMU in the first half of this fiscal year. I thank the Advancement Gifts and Records team for the dedication they showed over break, recording the 751 gifts and depositing $543,999 in cash donations. That’s an average of 150 gifts and $108,800 per day during those five days at the calendar year-end giving cycle. And I thank our donors for believing in Madison.

Information Technology Security Update

I appreciate everyone’s understanding and cooperation during the recovery from our recent IT security incident. Please be reminded that if you haven’t changed your password within My Madison since noon, December 18, you must do so to be able to access JMU technology services.

I extend special thanks to the staff in Information Technology and the other technology staff on campus who were involved in the remediation effort. James Madison University continues to be committed to protecting the confidentiality and security of the information entrusted to us.



JMU Martin Luther King Day Celebration

There are a number of celebratory Martin Luther King Jr. events scheduled this week, most of which will take place at the Commons. Events include an NAACP Faculty and Staff Breakfast, a D.E.E.P Impact Dialogue, March and Speak Out, and a community service event.

The week will culminate next Monday, January 19, in a formal program, "Never Sleep on a Dream...Arise and Take Action," featuring guest speaker Mr. Marc Morial. Mr. Morial is president of the National Urban League, and has been a catalyst for an era of transformation for this important civil rights organization. His work has helped to redefine civil rights in the 21st century and I am excited to see how his experience can inform our engaged learning, civic engagement and community engagement endeavors.

See https://www.jmu.edu/multicultural/index.shtml for a full listing of events.

Madison Vision Series

The Madison Vision Series lectures will continue in spring 2015.

Dr. Michael Signer will join us on February 19. He is a political theorist, lawyer, advocate, and author. He is the author of Becoming Madison: The Extraordinary Origins of the Least Likely Founding Father (2015), and Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies (2009). His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Republic, Democracy, Corporate Counsel, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA Today, Huffington Post, and U.S. News & World Report, and he has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, the BBC, and NPR.

On March 25 we will welcome Dr. Riane Eisler, president of the Center for Partnership Studies, which is dedicated to research on social and economic transformation. Dr. Eisler is the author of the international bestseller, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future.

Lawrence Lessig, professor at Harvard Law School, director of the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard and renowned expert on cyberspace and intellectual property, will join us on April 13. He launched the Mayday PAC that advocates for campaign finance reform, is a founding member of Creative Commons, and a founder of the Center for Internet and Society, among other roles. His passion for ethics and activism makes him an incredibly interesting speaker, and I look forward to hearing what new perspectives he can provide us and the Madison Collaborative.

I am excited to welcome and learn from these speakers. Please join me in attending these events and continuing the discourse these lectures generate in our community. As we get closer to these dates, you will find more details on these lectures at www.jmu.edu/president/mvs/index.shtml

Post-Collegiate Outcomes Meeting

Last week, I represented JMU as a panelist at the Post-Collegiate Outcomes Symposium. The goals of the PCO Initiative are to provide a framework for a richer and more comprehensive discussion of student outcomes after college, as well as consistent and meaningful measurement tools for reporting those outcomes. Jointly sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the American Association of Community Colleges, this new initiative seeks to broaden the national discourse about the value proposition for higher education so as to include public and human capital benefits in addition to private and economic benefits. I was able to share information about JMU’s strategic plan as a national example of this broader view. The symposium featured the official release of this framework and toolkit, as well as reactions from national experts.

The PCO effort will help higher education better understand how the collegiate experience affects students’ professional and personal lives after graduation. It was important to me to represent JMU on this national platform because we have a proven track record of preparing students as our central mission. Additionally, we have much to contribute when it comes to defining and assessing student outcomes, given the consistently outstanding and nationally recognized work of our own Center for Assessment & Research Studies. Both are critical as we work toward our strategic vision of becoming a national model of the engaged university.

See http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/Trends/pco/Pages/default.aspx for additional information.

Third Council for Higher Education Accreditation Award

As though to underscore my sentiments about serving on the PCO Symposium panel, I just received word that JMU has been named a 2015 winner of the 2015 Council for Higher Education Accreditation Award for Outstanding Institutional Practice in Student Learning Outcomes. The awards committee chose JMU, along with Boston Architectural College, Practice Department, as outstanding from among 26 applicants.

Please join me in congratulating Donna Sundre and her entire team for their third Council for Higher Education Accreditation Award. This award highlights JMU’s standing in assessment and measurement. What a record!

In closing, let me wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous new year and an exciting and rewarding semester ahead!

Jonathan R. Alger
President

Photo courtesy: LinkedIn, Amazon.com, TechJournal.org, and the Post Collegiate Outcomes Initiative