- Mailing Address
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800 South Main Street
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807 - Phone
- (540) 568-6211
- Email address
- admissions@jmu.edu
- Website
- https://www.jmu.edu/index.shtml
- School Information
- "Founded in 1908, James Madison University is a public university located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. JMU is fast becoming one of the nation’s leading lights in higher education because students enjoy unusually engaged relationships with world-class faculty who are here because they want to pursue knowledge and make teaching their No. 1 priority." The school enrolls over 21,700 students, employs over 1,570 faculty, and has over 130 degree programs. (Source: https://www.jmu.edu/about/index.shtml)
- General Information
- James Madison University has not yet implemented a school-wide antiracist initiative. However, it has increased access to antiracist resources. Most recently, the school's Center for Multicultural Student Services hosted a keynote event with Dr. Michelle Montgomery, a professor of interdisciplinary arts and sciences in American Indian studies and ethnic, gender and labor studies at the University of Washington Tacoma. No mandatory Critical Race Training sessions are yet required of students. However, see developments below:
Actions Taken
- Program and Research Funding
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University will be hiring six new faculty members "to work broadly across areas of racial and social justice, minority cultures and critical race studies."
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As part of its "Anti-Racist Agenda," the university "Increased funding for African, African American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD), increasing its visibility through a centrally located office and providing administrative support" and "Increased funding for Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies minor."
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Several Task Forces, including the Task Force on Racial Equity, the Diversity Task Force, and the Task Force on Inclusion, have been developed and charged with the responsibility to gather recommendations and ideas to advise the president and administration of JMU.
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The JMU Provost issued the 2022 Diversity Curriculum Grant Awards to support the “mission of enhancing access, equity and curriculum development, faculty research, professional development, and practices that will impact student learning/training and institutional culture.”
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- Symbolic Actions
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The university's Learning Centers recently made a commitment to "Review and revise the language of our department’s 'inclusive' value, with a focus on making it actionable and justice-oriented. "
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JMU has hired its first "associate vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion."
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JMU’s Strategic Plan for 2020-2026 consists of select Core Qualities that are supported by a series of supporting University Goals with Access, Inclusion and Diversity as the second core quality.
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The Academic Affairs Strategic Planning Committee finalized work in Spring 2022 on the division’s Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals which includes diversity, racial equity, and an anti-racist agenda.
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