EAD - or Employee Appreciation Day - is a day dedicated to celebrate and appreciate the employees of JMU.  This year, that day is Thursday, May 16.

EAD is a hodgepodge of activities, workshops, talks, tours, and games that are designed to encourage employees to get out of the office and into some fun! 

Some activity examples are a photo booth, a plant swap, Team Trivia, and Therapy Dog Station. 

Workshops include home improvement, herb apothecary, and more. 

There are tours such as the new space in the Convocation Center and an informative walk through JMU’s Bee Campus USA and Edible Food Forest Garden.

There are fascinating talks on the art of bonsai, native landscaping, pollinators, and Bigfoot in Virginia!  

And games galore - board games, corn hole, pickleball, volleyball, basketball, football, field-goal kicking, challenge courses, and team challenges. 

EAD activities are all over campus!  In addition, lunch during the day is held at Festival in the ballroom and dinner for second-shift employees is held at Taylor Down Under.

EAD is open to all full- and part-time faculty and staff of JMU and its affiliates.

While we invite and encourage all employees and their supervisors to attend at least one event on EAD, please check with your supervisor beforehand to determine your level of participation. 

Please keep checking the website for more information as EAD approaches.

The planning committee is working diligently to provide as many opportunities for learning and fun as we can.  

Some events require that employees register in MyMadison prior to attending. 

Once events are finalized, their descriptions, information, and registration requirements will be available.

Many events, including both lunch and dinner (second-shift employees only), do not require registration.

Events that require registration have room space limitations; therefore, if you are not on the event roster, you will not be allowed to attend the event.

If the event does not require registration, you are free to attend!  Some of these events include the Ward Photography Photo Booth, Hair Tinseling with Morgan Leap, all movie showtimes, Arboretum walks, unguided tours of the Edible Food Forest, and more.

EAD events are reserved for full- and part-time employees of JMU and its affiliates only. 

HOWEVER, you are welcome to bring members of your family to the nighttime showing of the movie.

Perhaps you're not trying hard enough.

Often on their own personal time, EAD committee members reach out to and voluntarily collect donations from local businesses and JMU departments.  Each donation is valued from $5 to $99 (per tax regulations on prizes, each donation cannot exceed $100).  Over $3,000 in donated prizes were used as prizes at EAD 2023.  

You can join the EAD Committee or you can volunteer a hour or so of your time on EAD.  We'd love to hear from you!  jmuad@jmu.edu