President Jim meets with Dukes around the DMV
Washington-area alumni discuss ways JMU can lead with positive change
News
SUMMARY: At his two latest listening tour events, President Jim hears from alumni, parents and students who praise JMU for offering a friendly, welcoming and supportive environment during their studies and throughout their lives. President Jim is seeking feedback on how JMU might focus its efforts through a new strategic plan, and so far the Madison community has been showing up in force to contribute to the president's vision of a bigger and bolder JMU.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — At two meet-and-greet events in the nation's capital and Northern Virginia, JMU President Dr. James C. Schmidt asked listeners to suggest next-level ideas that JMU might pursue in the next five years.
Both events offered the chance for alumni to catch up with each other, learn some of Schmidt’s goals, and propose their ideas for how JMU can build upon its efforts to be a leader in the community and an example for others.
“I’d like you to think about how we take that next step up,” Schmidt said. “We’re already on the national stage. How do we take the national spotlight?”
On Nov. 4, dozens of Madison students and alumni gathered at the National Press Club in downtown D.C. where Board of Visitors member Carly Fiorina was emcee. Also in attendance were several current and previous participants of the Washington Semester along with program director and political science professor Dr. Yi Edward Yang and former director and political science professor Dr. David Jones.
Eliana Lewis, a third-year Public Policy and Administration major who learned about the court system and victim advocacy efforts while working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said she chose JMU because of her desire to be part of the Washington Semester program.
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"We’re already on the national stage. How do we take the national spotlight?” — President Jim |
Attending the D.C. event, Lewis enjoyed hearing what she called innovative suggestions from attendees like Parker Boggs (’24), who grew up on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and suggested JMU tap into the commonwealth’s diverse agricultural heritage by appealing more to farmers who might not have thought college is for them.
“I think it will be a new side of JMU that no one’s really ever seen before,” Boggs said.
Fourth-year Political Science major Paige Coppedge, who plans to graduate this fall, worked in communication and social media for the Marshall Legacy Institute in Arlington, Virginia, as part of the Washington Semester.
After hearing Schmidt talk on Tuesday, Coppedge was glad to know that JMU has “a plan for a bigger and better JMU.”
“You always hear about it hypothetically,” Coppedge said, “but it’s really nice to see someone who has the actual power to make improvements to the university say that they want to make improvements to the university.”
On Nov. 5, the tour continued to the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, emceed by Board of Visitors member Joely Mauck (’90), of Fairfax, Virginia. Many of the audience suggestions centered on growing the culture of empathy that parents and alumni have noticed in excess at JMU.
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"The feeling that you have when you are at JMU is that you are home.” — Carlin Schwartz (’00), parent to a second-year JMU student |
While a student, Marina Curry (’24), a History major from Florida, witnessed empathy at work through the Dukes she met from various other backgrounds and cultures.
“It was important to connect with everybody in the classroom and hear what they had to say," she told President Jim. "It gave a real warmth to know you could change your thought in a split second just by saying hello to someone who came from somewhere different, and I think that we could keep working to do that even more than JMU already does.”
Sally Masri, who has two sons at JMU, said the school is uniquely positioned to offer a Life Skills Program through the College of Education for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There are more than 300 such programs nationwide, she said, but only one so far in Virginia.
“I do think that’s something that JMU would really excel at that could change the lives of many, many students," Masri said, "not just the students who come for the program, but for the entire campus.”
Envisioning JMU as a school that's "in it for life," Schmidt offered his own bold idea of providing additional, no-cost credits to graduates who either aren’t gainfully employed within their first year after graduation or who realize they need more skills to make them successful in their chosen career.
“We’ll take them back,” Schmidt posited. “And we will provide up to 12 credits in an additional undergraduate curriculum at no cost to the student. ... What if we did that? What if we say, ‘We’ve got your back, and we’ll take you back’?
“I know of no other university in the world that makes a promise that if you’re not employed or in graduate school or in the military or whatever your objective was, that we will stand behind you,” Schmidt said.
JMU's committment to students, even after they've left, is one of the reasons author, podcaster, politician and former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn (’05) said JMU's biggest strength isn't education, "it's the type of person that it creates."
Dunn, who has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Public Health, was in law enforcement for 16 years and credits JMU with helping mold him into someone who could successfully pivot to a career in public speaking.
"What makes JMU special is the people," he said. "And we can't lose sight of that, especially in today's climate where people are being marginalized, minimized, forgotten about. We can't forget about [them]. We can't leave people behind. And JMU does a great job of not leaving people behind.”
Carlin Schwartz (’00), who studied Elementary Education, psychology and Spanish at JMU and attended the Falls Church event with her husband, Steve (’00), said her daughter, Chloe, a second-year Psychology major, wasn't set on JMU until she attended an open house for prospective students. "The last place she was considering was JMU, because we went there. We tried to be really cool about it and step back for the process." In the end, the JMU campus and culture won her over.
"What she felt like there is that people really cared about her as a person. ... She loved how many women were in positions of leadership at JMU, and she felt really seen there, just in that one day. And she now is thriving ... The feeling that you have when you are at JMU is that you are home."
Ai Vy Le (’25), a Political Science major who works in legal consulting and staffing in D.C., attended the Falls Church event with an idea of becoming a donor one day. She wanted to see the direction that Schmidt plans to take JMU into the future. “This was a fantastic event,” she said, especially impressed at how it appealed to people of all ages.
“I didn’t go to JMU,” said Elizabeth Lesere, parent to a first-year Duke, “but boy do I feel like I missed out.”
The next stops on the tour will be Nov. 17 at The National Arts Club in New York City and Nov. 18 at The Dominion Club in Glen Allen, Virginia.
Share your ideas for JMU’s Strategic Plan. President Jim reads every submission. For more information, click here.
