Community with IDEAS: Jan./Feb. 2023

Vice President for Student Affairs Leadership Team

GENERAL UPDATES 

University Wide  

Student Affairs contributes to Admission’s programming such as JMU 101, CHOICES, and Dukes for A Day.  Thank you to all that have stepped in to play a role and those who will continue to assist with future events. See email from lonettcy@jmu.edu on 2/21 for more details. The sign-up for CHOICES, March 31, Student Life Showcase was shared with SA Leadership Team.  

The Board of Visitors meeting occured on Feb. 9-10. The Student Affairs Committee hosted a lunch for committee members in the CMSS and SOGIE Lounges. Afterwards, Dirron Allen and his team presented on the Master Housing Plan, including upcoming construction plans for Ikenberry Hall. Learn more about the Board of Visitors meetings, see full minutes and summaries here.  The next board meeting will be April 20-21. Myles Surrett and his team will provide an update from the Career, Experiential Learning, and Transition Area. Anyone is welcome to the Student Affairs Committee meeting on Thursday, April 20 from 1-2:30pm. 

Fall dates and calendar  

The Fall 2023 Academic Calendar was released: 

• August 23 – First day of classes 
• September 29 – October 1 – Family Weekend 
• October 18-22 – Fall Break 
• October 27-29 – Homecoming 
• November 18-26 – Thanksgiving Break 
• Final Exams – December 9-15 

Student Affairs  

In the recent Student Message sent on March 1, students were reminded about Healthy Minds Survey, East Campus Student Services and safety with bird scooters. There are conversations regarding potential changes around max speed of scooters on campus. Students were encouraged to enjoy their break and be mindful during gatherings and celebrations. To see all archived student messages, use this link. Student messages are sent the first week of every month. If you have something to highlight in the student message, please share it here.   

As part of the Master Housing Plan, which includes the Village, Ikenberry will be the first building to begin construction this summer. We have hired a contractor and are finalizing plans for this May. The Residence Life website will post updates regarding Ikenberry and Village construction. This page will be live in the next few weeks. It will include links to a camera so that we can view construction over the summertime, as well as Ikenberry's final student move out. Opportunities to celebrate Ikenberry will be coming soon. 

University Career Center

Career Questions to ask students about their summer plans:

• Encourage them to be intentional and proactive when seeking out jobs/internships for the summer
  • Let them know that UCC has a $3,000 Unpaid Internship Scholarship that they can apply for until April 14th
• If they don’t have plans, direct them to the University Career Center
  • UCC has knowledgeable Career Advisors that can help them form a plan and give them practical tools
• Here are 5 Ways to Encourage Students' Career Success!

AVP—Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

I would thank to thank everyone that made the new satellite office for Exam Accommodations possible. The Office of Disability Services has opened a satellite office for testing in the Union-502 as of February 6. We are excited to offer another location which as added 40 seats for our students to take exams.

Special thank you to the team in ODS and specifically the leadership of Valerie Schoolcraft and Chris Kinney on this project, in addition Amy Cook, Kristina Bright, and the GA's assisting in exams.

We also had several partners outside of ODS that supported us in this effort, a huge thank you to: Towana Moore, DIrron Allen, Jen Grossman-Leopard, Dave Barnes, Megan Driver, Jini Cook, Lisa Mastin, Jared Combs, Paul Williams, Sam Warren, Jeff Knicely, Gary Shears, Facilities Management, Networking & JMU IT.

Lastly, on behalf of ODS we would like to thank Dr. Tim Miller for his efforts and support of ODS and our students to get this project completed.

Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices 

Cover Heishman, Patrick Francis, Lindsay Stebbins and Dylan Sorkin attended ASCA 2023 in Portland, Oregon. Lindsay and Dylan presented their session titled, "Using Restorative Practices to Address Sexual Harm."

Office of Disability Studies 

Disability Advocacy Week is March 20—24, 2023. Check out the events, here. 

Libraries

A Place to Pick Up Books (and More) When Carrier Closes for Construction

We’re excited to share that we are preparing to open a new, temporary location at 1050 S. Main Street, next to Parking Lot “K”. We plan to open it soon after Carrier Library closes for construction in May. Learn more, here. 

Donate Seeds to the Community Seed Library

Are you ordering seeds for your own garden this year? If you have some left over, consider donating them to JMU’s Community Seed Library. We are happy to accept store-bought seeds, partially used packets or seeds saved from your garden. You can donate or pick up seeds at self-service locations in Carrier Library (moving soon to Rose Library!) and Massanutten Regional Library. Envelopes for repackaging seeds are provided. For a larger donation, or if you have questions, contact seedlibrary@jmu.edu. Learn more, here. 

The Community Seed Library also received some recent media coverage! Check it out on our JMU Libraries in the News page.