The mentorship network transforming student success at JMU

There is a particular kind of impact that doesn’t announce itself with fanfare. It grows quietly, student by student, through mentorship, friendship and a commitment to service. For alumni Nora Crouch (’82) and Charles T. May Jr. (’83), that kind of impact has shaped the lives of countless JMU students. Through their work with the Ole School Alumni Scholarship Group (OSASG) and the College of Business, they’ve helped build a thriving network of scholarship, mentorship and opportunity that reaches hundreds each year.

Crouch, an accounting graduate, has long been involved with the College of Business, including a decade on the Board of Advisors, a role that sparked a personal effort to bring more diverse voices to the table. “I knew there were a lot of engaged, diverse alumni,” she said. “I just didn’t know who they were.” That search led her to OSASG, where she found a deeply committed community already supporting students.

May’s path to this work looked different. A communication and media studies graduate who spent his career with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, he remained connected to JMU through OSASG for many years. Despite different backgrounds, he and Crouch shared the same purpose: expanding access for students.

Crouch and May’s worlds intersected when College of Business Dean Michael Busing invited OSASG to speak to the Board of Advisors. “We just showed up and told our story like we always do,” May said. “And it resonated.” Shortly afterward, May was invited to join the college’s board as well. 

The connection between OSASG and the College of Business grew naturally from a shared commitment to student success and the recognition that each group brought strengths the other could build on. Crouch saw the power of OSASG’s existing infrastructure and mission, while the Ole School leadership team recognized how connections within the College of Business could open new pathways for students. “You’ve got this infrastructure and this pipeline of talent,” said Crouch. “We realized companies desperately needed this. And the Ole School had exactly what they were looking for.” 

Together, they helped build a rapidly growing internship and job-placement effort. What began with 13 students soon expanded to dozens more, ultimately creating more than 600 student–employer connections at the end of the two year pilot period. Corporate sponsors joined in, and today OSASG partners with 15 companies. “There isn’t a demographic at the university we haven’t served,” Crouch said. “And that is something I’m really proud of.”

For both May and Crouch, mentorship is the heart of their work. “The mentoring context is everything,” said May. “We meet 300 or 400 students a year. We follow up with every one of them.” Crouch calls Ole School a “force multiplier,” one of May’s favorite phrases, but it reflects what she has experienced firsthand. “What I could do one on one was meaningful,” she said. “But it never had the outcomes that the Ole School gets. They are the force multiplier.”

And JMU students are the living proof. There is Elena, who went from a hesitant first-year student to one of the group’s strongest leaders. She completed three internships with Sentara, who later created a full-time position just for her. There is Keziah, who arrived quiet and reserved and now works at Fannie Mae as a financial engineer. And there is Sam, a current SMAD student who discovered a sense of community and purpose while filming Ole School events.

Along the way, Crouch and May developed their own close friendship. “Sometimes we spend more time together than my husband and I,” Crouch said with a laugh. May added, “We want people to believe that all things are possible when we stay together, when we give back and when we understand the importance of love and family.”

Their latest shared effort is unfolding in Ghana, where OSASG is helping sustain and expand a long-running study abroad and community engagement initiative. Originally led for decades by JMU professor David Owusu-Ansah, the initiative faced an uncertain future as his retirement approached. OSASG stepped in to help ensure its continuity, with a vision that extends far beyond travel. Their goal is to establish a JMU–Ole School–University of Ghana Center, a long-term partnership focused on academic exchange, community engagement and global opportunity.

And that impact is being recognized. During OSASG’s Legacy History Month in February, Crouch and her husband Steve will be honored with the Ole School award for contribution. “Once we started investigating the depth of what Nora and Steve had done, it was clear they needed the spotlight,” May said. “Their impact speaks for itself.”

But for Crouch and May, recognition has never been the point. Their legacy lives in the students who found confidence, careers and community—and in the systems they helped build to ensure that support continues long after they step away.

Quietly, deliberately and with care, they have changed what opportunity looks like at JMU. And because of that, hundreds of students are moving forward knowing someone believed in them first.