In early 2019, JMU became the 66th college/university to become a Bee Campus USA affiliate. Bee Campus USA fosters ongoing dialogue to raise awareness of the role that native pollinators play in our communities and what individuals can do to provide pollinators with healthy habitat.

Thinking globally and acting locally, Bee Campus USA provides a framework for campus communities to work together to conserve native pollinators by increasing the abundance of native plants, providing nest sites, and reducing the use of pesticides.

​Bee Campus USA affiliates make commitments to conserve native pollinators. Students, faculty, administrators, and staff work together to carry out these commitments and make their campus a better place for pollinators.

JMU is a Bee Campus, USA and the City of Harrisonburg is a Bee City, USA. Learn what this means from the Xerces Society, which organizes the Bee Campus and Bee City efforts, in the following video.

Bee Campus USA is a collaborative university-wide effort organized by FM and the ISNW, and accomplished through joint efforts with students, staff, faculty and partners.

Amy Goodall, Ph.D

In addition to advising capstone projects, Dr. Goodall teaches three Geographic Science courses that include pollinators (GEOG 210: Physical Geography, GEOG 340: Biogeography, and GEOG 440: Global Biodiversity). This video explores some of her longstanding gardening work, including lessons on plant life cycles and the benefits of pollinators like bees and butterflies, in partnership with schools in the City of Harrisonburg.

Heather Peckham Griscom, Ph.D

In BIO 402: Forest Ecology, Dr. Griscom's students have been inventorying and categorizing urban trees as resources for pollinators in the city.

Cindy Klevickis, Ph.D

The Roop Learning Community section of ISAT 173: Life and Environmental Science for Teachers, under the leadership of Dr. Klevickis, started the Monarch Waystation at the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum over a decade ago and continues to do work there. More recently, Dr. Klevickis and the Roop Learning Community created back-pack kits for families to use at the arboretum. Several of those kits involve pollinators. 

Michael Renfroe, Ph.D

Dr. Renfroe explores ecology and the importance of pollinators, and well as how to construct bee houses in BIO 360: Plant Biology and BIO 366: Environmental Ecology and Evolution. Dr. Renfroe's students have planted two pollinator gardens on campus and have constructed nesting shelters for Orchard Mason bees.

Wayne Teel, Ph.D

In ISAT 429/GEOG 429: Sustainability - An Ecological Perspective, students in Dr. Teel's course explore the role of pollinators on the East Campus Hillside and the importance of the diversity of pollinators in the environment. The importance of pollinators is also included in GEOG 322: Agricultural Systems.  

Photo by Dr. Amy Goodall