Dear Colleagues,

Earlier this week, we celebrated faculty promotions – a milestone that reminds us of the hard work, perseverance and support necessary to our professional success. Twenty faculty earned tenure and promotion in rank. Two earned promotion to senior lecturer. And thirty-nine achieved full professor status. Congratulations to each of you. Well done, and we’re glad you’re at JMU.

This was also International Week, and we celebrated with our colleagues in the Center for Global Engagement. While many of us know CGE as the home of study abroad, CGE also houses a passport center; facilitates international faculty and student exchange; partners with REDI and colleges to support faculty and student research; and is a support hub for international students, faculty and staff. Thank you to everyone in CGE for all you contribute to our academic mission.

Now for your highlights.

• Dr. Caitlyn Owens, an assistant professor in the Department of Graduate Psychology, was featured in Farm Bureau News Virginia for her work on farmer mental health. She created a centralized resource for farmers and their loved ones by teaming up with JMU and Staunton's ARROW Project to pilot an agricultural wellness program in Augusta County. The team provides workshops and free therapy for farmers, as well as hosting farm tours for clinicians. With initial grant funding from Farm Credit of the Virginias, the AgriTHRIVE initiative has blossomed in its first year.
  
  
• School of Music professor of saxophone David Pope has been busy collaborating with his former student Dr. Matt Smiley (BM 2007) on several projects that have resulted in commercial recordings. Smiley was awarded a Macdowell fellowship in 2024 that culminated in the summer release of his studio cd “Forever” (Allied Records).  In October, Pope will travel to Denver to present performances celebrating the release of a new live recording (vinyl and digital) at the prestigious jazz club Nocturne. Both projects also include Pope’s former student Dr. Josh D. Reed (BM 2007), who serves as associate professor of Jazz Trumpet at University of Nevada, Reno.
  
  
• The International Journal on Responsibility (ISSN: 2576-0955) is an international, peer-reviewed open-access interdisciplinary forum for theoretical, practical and methodological explorations into the various and complex issues of responsibility. The most recent volume focuses on the multiple ways responsibility affects environmental justice and is the final volume under editor-in-chief Dr. Heather Scheuerman, professor of Justice Studies, and managing editor Sylvia Whitney Beitzel. Dr. Taimi Castle, professor of Justice Studies and director of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence, serves as the new editor-in-chief.
  
  
• Dr. Hakseon Lee, professor of Political Science, was recently awarded a $2,000 Open Adopt Grant to transition his course, POSC 295 Political Science Research Methods, to zero-cost open course materials, eliminating textbook expenses for his students. He estimates that this resource will result in a five-year cost avoidance of $34,000 for students. Offered through VIVA, Virginia’s Academic Library Consortium, Open Grants  are offered to faculty at any Virginia higher education institution.

Please email provost@jmu.edu with accomplishments for you and your colleagues. I look forward to receiving and sharing them each week.

Sincerely,

Fletcher

Academic Affairs faculty and staff can email to contact the provost directly.

This is an open line of communication allowing faculty and staff to ask questions, but it is not a substitute from the crucial interactions they have with their academic unit head, department head and dean.

Students should contact AcademicQuestions@jmu.edu with questions.