"Now is not the time to rest on our laurels or our long and storied history. Today, the challenges of our communities and our world require new eyes, new ideas, and universities ready to step up with courage. Our world needs JMU."
– President Jim Schmidt

President Jim Schmidt, in partnership with the strategic plan co-chairs, is leading an eight-month process to create the next JMU strategic plan. This aggressive schedule is anchored in wide-ranging listening sessions and idea forums with campus and community members; identification of focused action themes that will be developed into strategic initiatives by teams of faculty, staff, students, and friends; and opportunities for university-wide contributions to review and refine a future-focused and revolutionary vision for this institution.

We invite you to be part of the next strategic planning step, Envisioning, by serving on a Vision Team!

Our vision teams will lay out a roadmap for JMU’s future: what we can invest in, what can make JMU more distinctive, and what will benefit our students and the Commonwealth most. Each team will prepare strategic recommendations, a feasibility analysis, additional ideas, a summary of their work and recommendations on how to measure success for each strategy.

Help us take the next step in the strategic planning process as we support, engage and challenge our students!

• Dirron Allen, Associate Vice President, Student Affairs
• Bethany Blackstone, Dean of the Honors College and Professor of Political Science
• Sheila Smith, Associate Vice President for Advancement Planning and Operations