JMU's Cross-Divisional Sustainable Transportation Work Receives Recognition
Environmental Stewardship
SUMMARY: The Dukes Ride campaign, an interdisciplinary, cross-divisional initiative to reduce JMU's single-occupancy vehicle use and increase bus ridership, won the Best Overall Marketing Campaign award and Valerie Kramer, JMU Alternative Transportation Program Manager won the Excellence in Advocacy award from The Association for Commuter Transportation.
The Dukes Ride campaign won the Best Overall Marketing Campaign award and Valerie Kramer, JMU Alternative Transportation Program Manager (Admin and Finance), won the Excellence in Advocacy award from The Association for Commuter Transportation. ACT recognized these and other achievements in the field of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) at their 40th annual ACT International Conference in Philadelphia, PA.
ACT describes itself as the "premier organization and leading advocate for commuter transportation and Transportation Demand Management (TDM) professionals." From ACT, "The term ‘transportation demand management’ means the use of strategies to inform and encourage travelers to maximize the efficiency of a transportation system, leading to improved mobility, reduced congestion, and improved air quality, including strategies that use planning, programs, operations, policies, marketing, communications, incentives, pricing, data, and technology."
Dukes Ride is a community-based social marketing (CBSM) campaign to reduce JMU's single-occupancy vehicle use and increase commuter bus ridership. Through formative research, cohesive branding, and partnership-driven outreach, Dukes Ride aims to increase awareness of bus commuting as a viable option, strengthen student intent by highlighting benefits and reducing barriers, and encourage adoption of bus commuting through partnerships, pledges, events, and incentives.
The interdisciplinary, cross-divisional Dukes Ride team included three JMU School of Communication Studies (SCOM) faculty members, Pete Bsumek, Andrea Martinez Gonzalez, and Tobias Reynolds-Tylus; JMU's Alternative Transportation Program Manager, Valerie Kramer; Institute for Stewardship of the Natural World (ISNW) faculty, Christie-Joy Hartman and Amanda Bodle; and a College of Integrated Science and Engineering administrator, Jeffrey Tang; along with contributions from numerous students from SCOM and ISNW. Partnerships with Off-Campus Life and University Marketing and Branding supported the effort. Bluestone Communication, a JMU student-run public relations firm, managed social media strategy and content creation, ensuring professional-quality materials and long-term campaign sustainability. Influential campus figures, including JMU's President, Dr. James Schmidt; Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Tim Miller; Student Government Association President AY24-25, Brielle Lacroix; and mascot, Duke Dog, endorsed and modeled bus ridership, reinforcing credibility. Elements of the Duke's Ride campaign can be found on JMU's transit website and a recent Being the Change podcast. A manuscript was published in the journal, Social Marketing Quarterly.
In addition to her role in Dukes Ride, Kramer has led sustained advocacy initiatives that expanded bicycle infrastructure, elevated JMU from Bronze to Silver Bicycle Friendly University status, strengthened regional transportation coordination, and embedded TDM principles into campus culture, planning, and policy. Her work at JMU advances the field of TDM by demonstrating how behavioral change strategies and mobility choice architecture can be successfully adapted to the university context.
