Dear Colleagues,

Thanksgiving Break beckons, so I’ll keep this short today. We had a good Board of Visitors meeting last week – we were able to share more about research and scholarship/creative activity across campus and featured the work of a number of students and their faculty mentors. We also got good feedback from board members on the strategic plan work to date. As a reminder, please self-nominate if you’d like to join in on the Vision Teams who will be the critical next step in this process, moving us from concept to concrete plans for implementation. Nominations will be open through 5 p.m. on Wed., Dec. 3.

Best wishes to you and your families for a restful and rejuvenating holiday. See you in December as we wrap things up for the fall term.

Here is some good news to take into the weekend and break.

• Dr. David Hembry, assistant professor of Biology, and a colleague will be published in the upcoming Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, vol. 1. Their work, “Biogeography of Interactions,” will be available in early 2026, but you can read the abstract now.
  
  
• Congratulations to Dr. David Shonk, professor and director of the Hart School of Hospitality, Sport and Recreation Management, who co-edited a book that was just published. The second edition of Policy and Governance in Sport Issues, Organizations, and Practical Application provides a broad overview of the governance structures of sport organizations as well as policy issues pertaining to sport governance. 
  
  
• A full circle moment! An associate professor in Health Professions, Dr. Ana Abad-Jorge, Ed.D., MS, RDN, FAND, and alum Sarah Kobayashi (M ’25) presented their recent research at the 2025 Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo meeting, hosted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND). They were also featured at the final conference session.
  
  During the closing, they shared their professional stories, highlighting Dr. Abad-Jorge’s mentorship and Sarah’s success as a young professional. They also shared that in 2024, Sarah received an AND Academy Foundation Grant to support her master’s thesis research – the same grant Dr. Abad-Jorge received years ago when pursing her doctoral degree. AND created a video you can view online.

• Dr. Lori Britt, professor and director of the School of Communication Studies, co-authored Facilitative Leadership: Building Capacity for Divisive Times with Waveland Press. This book introduces a four-phase framework—self-awareness, intention, growth mindset, and responsive behaviors—to guide leaders in building dialogue and collaboration across difference. The volume includes twelve case studies demonstrating facilitative leadership in practice. Congratulations!
  
  
• JMU Department of English faculty continue to be recognized in the academic and popular press. Dr. Sofia Samatar, associate professor in the Department of English, recently had her book The Practice, The Horizon, and the Chain featured in a NY Times piece on books about Dark Academia.  The book was also cited in the NY Times feature on the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2024. If you’d like to read these or other NY Times articles, remember you can access them at no cost thanks to JMU Libraries.

Thanks for sending in highlights for yourself and your colleagues. Please keep sending them my way, and the more details the better! Email me at provost@jmu.edu.

Sincerely,

Bob

Academic Affairs faculty and staff can use the options below 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.

• Submit a Question to the Provost
• Email the Provost

Students should contact AcademicQuestions@jmu.edu with questions.