Traci A. Zimmerman, Dean
Melinda J. Adams, Associate Dean
Rebecca "Becky" Childs, Associate Dean
Siân E. White, Associate Dean
Shannon L. Wilson, Director of Professional Development and Engagement
Phone: (540) 568-6334
MSC: 2105
Location: Harrison Hall, Suite 1109
College of Arts and Letters Website
Mission Statement
The College of Arts and Letters empowers students to become reflective lifelong learners who can address today's social, cultural, and political challenges through inclusive awareness, creative thinking, problem solving, communication, and responsive leadership.
Vision
To be a champion for liberal arts education, empowered locally and engaged globally.
Values
- Stewardship: The College of Arts and Letters is committed to the responsible, ethical, equitable, and transparent use of our time and our financial, scholastic, environmental, and human resources.
- Collaboration: The College of Arts and Letters embraces the power and benefits of working together to achieve results and recognizes that only through collaborative governance and shared decision-making among leadership, faculty, and staff will it realize its full potential.
- Faculty and Staff Development: The College of Arts and Letters invests in our employees' wellbeing and life-long learning. The College prioritizes professional development and cultivates work environments in which faculty and staff flourish both professionally and personally.
- Equity: The College of Arts and Letters commits to maintaining a fair and just environment where all are welcome, respected, and able to contribute to the academic experience.
- Integrity: The College of Arts and Letters holds its leadership, its faculty, and its staff to the highest standards of honesty, ethical behavior, and mutual respect and to full accountability in decision making.
- Shared Governance: The College of Arts and Letters upholds its commitment to shared governance through inclusive participation in planning and decision-making and meaningful accountability that fosters a climate of mutual trust.
- Academic Excellence: The College of Arts and Letters promotes high standards in teaching and research, upholds academic freedom and academic integrity for faculty and students, and challenges students to think and create in original and complex ways.
Academic Programs and Cross-Disciplinary Activities
Students may select from a broad spectrum of majors, minors, and graduate programs in the seven departments and three schools. In addition, the college offers a wide array of cross-disciplinary minors, pre-professional programs, general education courses, annual events and supporting services, some of which reach out to the regional community. Information about these programs may be found on the "Majors and Programs" tab of the College of Arts and Letters website.
Academic Units
School of Communication Studies
Lori Britt, Director
Department of English
Sarah Hagelin, Academic Unit Head
Department of History
P. David Dillard, Academic Unit Head
Department of Justice Studies
Peggy Plass, Academic Unit Head
School of Media Arts and Design
Joe Hinshaw, Director
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Kenneth Pearce, Academic Unit Head
Department of Political Science
Kerry F. Crawford, Academic Unit Head
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Abigail Wightman, Academic Unit Head
Department of World Languages and Cultures
Cynthia Chalupa, Academic Unit Head
School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Michael Smith, Director
Centers and Institutes
African, African American, and Diaspora (AAAD) Studies Center
Delores Phillips, Director
Phone: (540) 568-7772
Email: phillidp@jmu.edu
The African, African American, and Diaspora (AAAD) Studies Center provides interdisciplinary knowledges, programming and initiatives related to the peoples, cultures and institutions of Africa and the African Diaspora. Each year, the center hosts the Annual African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Interdisciplinary Conference, which welcomes scholars across the world.
The American Political Reform & Innovation Lab (APRILab)
Tim LaPira, Director
Phone: (540) 568-5309
Email: lapiratm@jmu.edu
The American Political Reform & Innovation Lab (APRILab) is a nonpartisan, civic- and community-engaged political science and data science research lab dedicated to institutional political reform.
Furious Flower Poetry Center
Lauren Alleyne, Executive Director
Phone: (540) 568-8883
Email: alleynlx@jmu.edu
The nation's first academic center for Black poetry, the Furious Flower Poetry Center is committed to ensuring the visibility, inclusion and critical consideration of Black poets in American letters, as well as in the whole range of educational curricula. Our programming seeks to cultivate an appreciation for poetry among students of all levels—from elementary to graduate school and beyond. In addition, Furious Flower seeks to support and promote Black poets at all stages of their careers and to preserve the history of Black poets for future generations.
Innovation Center for Youth Justice
Rita Poteyeva, Director
Phone: (540) 568-7124
Email: poteyemx@jmu.edu
The ICYJ is a partnership between James Madison University and the RFK National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice. Our shared mission and goals include national and international leadership for positive innovation in policy and practice in youth justice systems.
Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue
Lori Britt, Co-Director
Phone: (540) 568-5028
Email: brittll@jmu.edu
Rob Alexander, Co-Director
Phone: (540) 568-3771
Email: alexanrw@jmu.edu
ICAD designs and guides conversations that help communities think together productively and use dialogue and deliberation across differences to address the challenges and opportunities of civic life.
The Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence
Daniel Beers, Director
Phone: (540) 568-8180
Email: beersdj@jmu.edu
The Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence serves as a local and global hub to promote the understanding of justice through education, scholarship and engagement.
Center for Public Broadcasting/WMRA-WEMC
Matt Bingay, Director
Phone: (540) 568-6221
Email: wmra@jmu.edu
The Center for Public Broadcasting's mission is to inform, connect and engage communities through journalism, broadcasting and outreach. It serves over 50,000 listeners in the Shenandoah Valley, Charlottesville and Farmville areas.
The center comprises a network of non-commercial public radio stations, serving Harrisonburg at 90.7 FM, Charlottesville at 103.5 FM, Lexington at 89.9 FM and Winchester at 94.5 FM, and one standalone station, WEMC, serving Harrisonburg at 91.7 FM. The WMRA network stations are licensed to the James Madison University Board of Visitors. WEMC is licensed to Eastern Mennonite University but is operated entirely by the center. Much of WMRA's programming is rebroadcast by WMLU 91.3 FM, the station owned by Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. WMRA and WEMC are members of National Public Radio, and are affiliated with Public Radio International and American Public Media. The stations broadcast 24 hours per day year-round, offering extensive in-depth news coverage and classical, folk, blues and jazz music. The center also operates Valley Voice Radio Reading Service for the print-impaired. Listeners and local businesses contribute nearly three-quarters of the center's annual budget.
Annual Events
CAL Career Readiness Conference
Shannon Wilson, Director
Phone: (540) 568-8904
Email: wilso4sl@jmu.edu
The College of Arts and Letters Career Readiness Conference is a multi-day event open to CAL students and features JMU alumni from all CAL majors discussing the wide range of career opportunities available to graduates with a liberal arts degree. The program of alumni panels, career-readiness workshops and networking opportunities provides an opportunity to learn more about the transition from college to post-graduate life. The event cultivates and strengthens relationships among alumni, current students, and CAL faculty and staff.
Madison Writing Awards
Madison Writing Awards (MWA) is a university-wide biennial competition that celebrates the importance of writing and sophisticated rhetorical practice across all undergraduate academic programs. Winners are recognized at a spring awards reception, and the top submissions receive generous cash prizes. These awards reflect the commitment of the School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication and the College of Arts and Letters to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue and engagement as well as to acknowledge the power of writing in all its forms and contexts.
JMU Arts & Letters Undergraduate Research Conference
Melinda Adams
Phone: (540) 568-3377
Email: adams2mj@jmu.edu, CAL_UGRC@jmu.edu
The JMU Arts & Letters Undergraduate Research Conference features outstanding research and/or creative works by undergraduates working in any humanities, social science, or communication discipline. Held every spring, it attracts students from across the eastern United States and has become one of the largest humanities and social science undergraduate research conferences in the region.
