James Madison University

Campus Category

Four year and graduate institutions over 15,000 student FTE

Contact Information

Christie-Joy Brodrick Hartman
Executive Director
Institute for Stewardship of the Natural World

Education and Research

James Madison University (JMU) is a century-old, primarily undergraduate institution located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. JMU is a signatory of the Talloires Declaration and the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.

Sustainability themes are incorporated in a variety of courses and disciplines, such as rhetoric, art, anthropology, and business. Academic environmental offerings include seven majors/concentrations, four minors, and a College of Business Sustainability Certificate. Masters degrees are offered in international Sustainable Environmental Resources Management and a joint forestry program. An introductory environmental issues course is open to all students. A residence hall eco-learning community began this year. Over 1,000 students annually work, serve, or study abroad via more than forty programs offered through the JMU Office of International Programs (OIP), which emphasizes social concerns including sustainable environmental practices and economics. Seven student organizations address environmental stewardship and over a dozen organizations address equity and social issues. Multiple sustainability-related competitions and events are held annually. Last year, JMU ranked among the top ten schools for Power Vote pledges—a campaign to create a clean energy economy. 

In 2008, JMU obtained over $362,000 in sponsored programs for renewable energy, climate, and/or sustainability. Examples of past faculty-student applied research topics include biofuels production, incorporating ocean sediment cores into lessons on climate changes, and studying the effects of large-scale deforestation on the human community. Examples of past scholarly, student projects include: design of the wetlands for the local hospital, implementation of a sustainable water pumping and irrigation system in Kenya, and review of the role of colonial Quakers in the intellectual genealogy of American environmentalism. Our students’ work has been recognized by entities such as the Geology Association of America, the Air & Waste Management Association, and the American Chemical Society.

JMU’s commitment to the social aspects of sustainability is realized through multiple research centers and institutes on campus. Annually, the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services (IIHHS) provides over $4 million in grant-funded services to Virginia Citizens, houses 25 distinct programs, and involves over 3,000 students in clinics and community programs. The Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (CEES) is an interdisciplinary effort to promote sustainable lifestyle, community, and business practices. Examples of CEES faculty projects include the Virginia Wind Energy Consortium, the Shenandoah Valley Air Quality Initiative, and the PureWater Forum, which educate decision makers and the public. The Gandhi Center seeks to advance the understanding of, appreciation for, and practice of, nonviolence. The Mine Action Information Center provides training, a help desk, symposia, a journal, and studies and surveys designed to facilitate and improve global landmine action.

Our four university divisions collaborate to immerse students in a living laboratory. The campus has a wind turbine, photovoltaics, a green roof, a planetarium, Arboretum, Science on a Sphere (a spherical movie system that simulates Earth systems), and a farm internship program. Elliptical exercise machines have been outfitted to produce electricity, and online-readings of energy consumption are produced for multiple buildings.
 

Campus Operations

47% of JMU students report using alternative transportation. More than 25% of our eligible workforce is engaged in alternate work schedules. University citizens use on and off campus transit by showing a JMU ID. JMU diesel fleet vehicles and the city transit system have run on a 5% biodiesel blend since 2005, and JMU’s fleet increased to a 20% biodiesel blend this year. As part of a five-year alternative vehicle plan, we have replaced more than eighteen older motor pool vehicles with electric, hybrid, and flex-fuel vehicles. This coming year, we have internally funded an electric vehicle conversion and instituted on-campus emissions analysis. JMU applied for membership to the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium, and began “train the trainer” training for our vehicle technicians in June 2009.

JMU’s recycling program is 20 years old. In 2005, JMU received the Outstanding University Program award by the Virginia Recycling Association. JMU has a recycling rate of 33%. More than 1,000 tons of waste are recycled, and 731 tons of waste are sent to the resource recovery facility (which converts the waste to energy) annually. A donation program reduces waste at residence hall move-out. JMU placed third in the Commonwealth in the national 2009 RecycleMania Waste Minimization competition. This past year, JMU implemented multiple waste minimization programs as part of a comprehensive recycling review. These included distributing a recycling guideline, holding training sessions for building coordinators, and distributing over 500 desk-side and community bins. An industrial shredder will replace burning 12 tons of documents annually and procurement of individual shredders. Recycling will be implemented this year at special events. Other efforts included JMU adopting reusable bags at orientation, installing efficient washing machines in residence halls, and replacing printed documents.

JMU adopted energy efficient lighting and green products multiple years ago. JMU is in the process of applying for LEED Silver certification for its first building, the East Campus Dining Hall, and plans equivalent standards for future buildings. Sustainable grounds practices include: mulching landscaping trimmings, installing moisture sensors to reduce watering, reducing landscaping that requires hand-watering, and adopting best stormwater management practices. Along with 5 area partners, the ISNW and JMU Facilities Management will implement a $325,000 grant to reduce stormwater runoff in the community.

The dining hall offers fair trade coffee, local foods, and organic selections. Dining is a sponsor of the local foods guide and hosted a forum to increase communication, create networks, and promote local purchases. Cafeteria facilities went trayless this past year saving 436,000 gallons of water. Food waste reductions are estimated to be as high as 25%. For two take-out locations, a reusable container loan program was initiated. Approximately 2,200 gallons of used cooking oil is recycled annually into biodiesel. The first “green” Starbucks, which is green in construction as well as operations, will open in one of our campus libraries in fall. Approximately 10,000 student-designed reusable mugs will be distributed this year.
 

Administration and Finance

Multiple JMU offices, centers and institutes support JMU’s commitment to sustainability.
Founded in 1986, the Office of Community Service-Learning (CS-L) annually offers approximately 50 service-learning courses that place approximately 1,500 students in 75 community service agencies and 35 domestic and international agencies. The award-winning Alternative Break Program annually offers over 40 trips, involving approximately 600 students and faculty. Over 85 students serve in public schools and community agencies as part of CS-L’s Community Based Federal Work Study Program. JMU was selected for the 2008 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. The Peace Corps ranks JMU 21st in the nation among large colleges with 44 alumni actively serving and 364 serving since inception. The CS-L Director was selected by Campus Compact for the inaugural national Leadership Award for Campus and Community Engagement.

A defining characteristic of JMU is that the university will be a diverse community whose members share in and contribute to a common JMU experience. Created in 2004, the Office of Diversity supports many efforts to increase ethnic-cultural, socio-economic, first-generation and regional diversity at JMU. Since inception, annual applications from minority students have increased from 2,159 to 3,324. Full-time employees from underrepresented minorities have risen from 126 to 160. Over $145,000 has been awarded internally to create diversity projects and programs.

JMU has multiple diversity programs that support K-16 students. JMU offers a technology camp for middle and high school students, which was given one of four ABET President’s Awards for Diversity. Since 2004, the Professor in Residence Program has placed professors in high schools and middle schools with high percentages of free-reduced lunch participants. The Centennial Scholars Program reduces the financial imposition of a college education for those students coming from low socio-economic backgrounds. Currently, there are 180 combined undergraduate and graduate students within the program. Participants receive a full scholarship and represent all aspects of diversity. The program just graduated its second class, with a graduation rate approaching 88% within five years.

In 2008, a formal administrative structure for institutionalizing environmental stewardship was adopted, the Institute for Stewardship of the Natural World (ISNW), which is guided by over 100 JMU citizens. The ISNW is developing policies, programs, and communications that support environmental stewardship. JMU recently completed an emissions inventory and has initiated an environmental action plan, which will include climate actions. A comprehensive list of activities is online at www.jmu.edu/stewardship.

Employee training and support furthers institutional sustainability efforts. JMU hosts an annual symposium on diversity, an employee organization to support those from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and Human Resources added a position to address recruitment of a diverse workforce. This past year, JMU offered a three-course campus stewardship training series to employees, and a faculty workshop on life-cycle analysis has been developed for the coming year. A workshop is offered on creating a service-learning course. There has been a comprehensive effort to reduce paper use, such as producing the Faculty Handbook in downloadable, electronic versions and use of an online application review process.