The James Madison University Board of Visitors met Monday, April 26, 2004, in the Board Room of JMU's College Center. Following is a summary of actions taken by the board and key areas of discussion at the board meeting:

• Set the costs for tuition, fees and room and board for Virginia students at $11,356 for 2004-2005 - a 5.2 percent increase over the current charges of $10,794.  Tuition, fees and room and board for out-of-state students will increase by 6.75 percent, from $19,016 to $20,300. Costs for commuter students will increase from $5,058 to $5,476 for Virginia students and from $13,280 to $14,420 for non-Virginians.  Room and board increases - from $5,736 to $5,880 - will be the same for in-state and out-of-state students. Charges for graduate work will increase from $201 to $226 per semester hour for Virginians and $605 to $660 for non-Virginians.
  
  
• Received a report from Dr. Daniel A. Wubah, special assistant to the president on efforts being made to enhance diversity at the university.  The efforts include a variety of efforts toward expanding diversity on the faculty and staff and the creation of scholarships for students from underrepresented groups. 
  
  
• Saw a presentation on the work of a team of four JMU students who won first place in the national Microsoft Windows ChallengE program.   JMU's winning project, which won the top award of $4,000 from Microsoft, is an airport security checkpoint device designed to help protect the millions of people who fly each day.
  
  
• Approved the establishment of the Alvin V. Baird Jr. Centennial Chair in Psychology in the College of Integrated Science Technology.  The chair is named for Baird, who is a major benefactor of the University.
  
  
• Approved the establishment of the Jackson Ramsey Centennial Chair in the College of Business.  The chair is named for Jackson, who is a retired business professor and provost of CISAT. 
  
  
• Approved the following new academic programs:
  • A master of education in mathematics.
    
    
  • An undergraduate major in justice studies in the College of Arts and Letters. 
    
    
  • A Ph.D. research track in the existing doctoral program in combined-integrated clinical, school and counseling psychology.
    
    
• Was told by President Linwood H. Rose:
  • That JMU leads all state colleges and universities in providing wireless computer access, according to a study by the Intel Corp.  JMU ranked 39th nationally in the ranking done by Intel.
    
    
  • That two JMU graduate programs have been cited for excellence in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.   The master's level audiology program was ranked 27th in the nation and the speech-language pathology program ranked 32nd in the country.
    
    
  • That three JMU students who had served in the military in Iraq recently discussed their experiences at an on-campus forum, which was covered by the national cable network, C-Span.  The forum was sponsored by OrangeBand initiation, a organization founded at JMU that promoted open discussion of issues.