Campus Compact recognizes James Madison University for implementing institution-wide efforts to address issues of public concern

Campus Compact is pleased to announce that James Madison University has been awarded Campus Compact’s Richard Guarasci Award for Institutional Transformation. The award recognizes four-year or graduate institutions that have successfully implemented institution-wide efforts to address issues of public concern by aligning teaching, research, practice, and values in service of the common good. Recipients are institutions that have undertaken comprehensive efforts to advance the values articulated in Campus Compact’s 30th Anniversary Action Statement of Presidents and Chancellors.

James Madison University has defined civic engagement as advancing the legacy of James Madison by preparing individuals to be active and responsible participants in our democracy. To achieve this, James Madison University has committed to use the full capacity of the institution to challenge social and economic inequalities that threaten our democratic future. Since the publication of the JMU Civic Action Plan in 2017 under the leadership of President Jonathan Alger, the university has continued to build cross-campus strategies and processes that center this commitment. Through initiatives, task forces, community partnerships, and collaboration, the entire JMU community works to ensure that the institution continues to prepare students for lives of engaged citizenship and embraces its place-based responsibility to contribute to the health and strength of communities.

“James Madison University’s commitment to community and civic engagement is one of the cornerstones of our vision ‘to be the national model for the engaged university: engaged with ideas and the world,’” said James Madison University President Jonathan Alger in a letter supporting his institution’s nomination. “We believe that our educational mission must include an institutional focus on the public good that in turn supports a healthy and just democracy and society. Community engagement, civic engagement, and engaged learning are at the heart of our strategic plan.”

Dominican University of California is the only other recipient of the Richard Guarsci Award for Institutional Transformation this year.

The Richard Guarsci Award for Institutional Transformation is presented as part of Campus Compact’s Impact Awards, which recognize the outstanding work of individuals and institutions in pursuit of the public purposes of higher education. Read more about the other awards and this year’s recipients at compact.org/2022-impact-award-recipients.

The recipients of these awards will be recognized in March at Campus Compact’s upcoming Compact22 virtual conference.

For more information contact:
Molly Leiper, Communications Manager, Campus Compact, mleiper@compact.org