Celebrating a Career Dedicated to Students

Throughout his career as an educator and leader at JMU, Dr. Michael Stoloff demonstrated his passion for helping students achieve their career goals through mentorship and hands-on research. During his tenure as Associate Dean of The Graduate School, Stoloff has made significant contributions to student education. He has now retired after 44 years at JMU.

Stoloff began his career with the goal of becoming a professor of psychology, inspired by his professors’ dedication to providing students with a fruitful educational experience. “I wanted to work with students who were, in many ways, like me; students who want to develop careers that would allow them to have a solid impact on people’s lives and the world,” Stoloff said.

Joining the JMU faculty in 1981, Stoloff began as an Assistant Professor of Psychology, and over time, he progressed to Professor, Program Director of the M.A. in Psychological Sciences, Undergraduate Psychology Program Director, Head of the Department of Psychology, Associate Dean of the College of Health and Behavioral Studies, and finally Associate Dean of The Graduate School.

During his career, Stoloff conducted numerous lines of research, often in collaboration with his students. He is perhaps best known for his work regarding characteristics of psychology curricula that help students succeed.  Stoloff served twice on the American Psychological Association’s Task Forces that established guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major, and he served as a consultant to many psychology programs across the US to help programs improve. This research and these experiences made it clear to him that “students who engage in more individual research activity with faculty outside of classes were more successful,” Stoloff explains. Much of his work for JMU Psychology, as well as his task force and consulting work, focused on establishing systems that made it possible for more faculty to engage directly with students; this allowed more students to have high-impact mentorship experiences that would help them succeed. 

For example, for JMU Psychology, he helped to create more opportunities for work-related experiences for students, and he adjusted faculty workload expectations so that faculty could devote more of their time to working with individual students.  Often this took the form of students collaborating with faculty on research.  Stoloff believes that students who conduct research learn how to handle unfamiliar tasks, and that is an extremely valuable and generalizable skill. “I recognized that most students who majored in psychology were not going to become researchers as their profession, but the process of identifying a problem and figuring out the steps you need to solve it is an essential skill in every work environment,” Stoloff said. 

When he assumed the role of Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Stoloff was able to apply much of what he had learned about curriculum development to that role.  In addition, he applied his knowledge of psychology and research methodology to the development of new marketing strategies that helped to grow graduate enrollment at JMU. By expanding outreach through digital marketing, Stoloff was proud to welcome more international students to JMU for their graduate education, as well as promote the value of graduate education to undergraduates in the US. He believes that JMU’s graduate students benefit greatly by working closely with professors, networking with others in the field, and gaining a global perspective within their programs.  He developed communication and marketing for The Graduate School that made it clear that this is what students would experience if they enrolled at JMU.

In retirement, Dr. Stoloff reminisces about the journey that helped him become a mentor and leader. He derives great satisfaction from knowing that his work, directly with students as a professor and indirectly through his leadership roles, has helped many students achieve their career and personal aspirations.

For anyone trying to build their leadership skills, he advises setting goals, building support, and putting new ideas into action. “Learning to present your ideas is crucial. Presenting your goal and demonstrating how it would work is key to convincing others that your ideas have merit and can be adopted,” Stoloff explains.

After retirement from JMU, Stoloff is continuing some professional work, still serving in occasional departmental consulting roles, and managing the business operations of a professional organization, the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology. He also enjoys having more time for hobbies such as traveling, gardening, baking, and visiting with friends. He says that his heart is still at JMU, which he describes as "a wonderful university for both undergraduate and graduate students."