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James Madison University ranked as the top public, master’s-level university in the South in the highly regarded annual poll on academic quality conducted by U.S. News & World Report for its guidebook, 2010 America’s Best Colleges. JMU also had the highest graduation rate - 81 percent – among both public and privates colleges in the South.

It’s not just a slogan. It is Madison — a living, evolving university where change is the status quo. Daily our students, faculty and alumni address the world’s needs. We help those struggling with disease, poverty, handicaps or lack of opportunity through science, humanitarianism and service. We expand the world’s knowledge through innovative and cutting-edge research, widely available to our undergraduates. We explore new worlds through global-centric perspectives and study abroad programs.

With the mentoring of faculty whose first love is teaching, we help students fulfill their destinies. JMU offers each student a future of significance — not an education of mere prestige, but an extraordinary education of exceptional scholarship, inventive thinking, unparalleled attention to the world community, a university-wide enthusiasm for teaching, and a commitment to student success.

And our alumni continue to demonstrate the unrestrained liberty of individuals to use their acquired knowledge to transform the world.

Big-school opportunities, small-school feel

Superior academics, unparalleled student life, and a campus and faculty committed to preparing you to lead a productive and meaningful life. At Madison, you’ll have terminal-degree faculty in your classroom from day one and a one-of-a-kind student success program — all dedicated to helping you find your way to Be the Change!

A world of opportunity

A world of opportunity opens up when you embark on the Madison Experience. At JMU, diversity equals endless possibilities. It means you are accepted for who you are and for your unique talents. It says that your individuality makes this university a richer place. From spending a semester overseas in our popular study-abroad program to becoming a leader in one of our more than 300 clubs and organizations, immersion in the world of JMU means opportunity.

Tradition

For a century, JMU has led the way in training teachers who have gone on to work their unending magic in classrooms across the country and the world. It just makes sense that a dedication to teaching is shared throughout JMU’s faculty and benefits students in all our majors.

Innovation

Our cross-disciplinary engineering degree, one of our most recent gems, that concentrates on sustainable systems design and analysis. Forensic science. Integrated science and technology. Quantitative finance. And this is just the short list.

Social conscience

JMU graduates are known as positive risk-takers who embrace the idea that the world can be a better place when caring people listen, think and act. Expect that to start when you get here.

A place for you to grow

We work on your weaknesses and your strengths. Mixing in your imagination and curiosity and adding our insight and support guarantees that your Madison Experience will be special. It happens over and over because we work hard to keep the focus on you.

Athletics:

James Madison University sponsors an 18-sport intercollegiate athletics program that competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.  JMU also is affiliated with the Colonial Athletic Association, of which it was a charter member in 1985, and with the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

JMU has men’s athletics programs in baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, and tennis.

For women, the university offers programs in basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball.

JMU’s women’s athletics tradition is among the oldest in the nation, dating nearly back to the institution’s founding in 1908.  Strong intercollegiate programs for women have been in place at the university since the early 1920s, and JMU was among the first of the nation’s institutions to provide well-rounded overall intercollegiate offerings for females.

Men’s athletics began at JMU during the late 1940s, and a comprehensive program for men began evolving in the late 1960s when the university became fully coeducational.

JMU’s men’s soccer team led the university’s move to the NCAA Division I level, attracting national attention in the early 1970s, and JMU’s overall program moved to Division I for the 1976-77 academic year.  The university’s football program moved from Division III to Division II in 1979 and to what is now the NCAA’s Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) in 1980.

JMU won the NCAA field hockey championship in 1994 and the NCAA Division I-AA football title in 2004.

Athletic scholarships have been available at JMU since the early 1970s, and many of the university’s programs are funded to the full level that NCAA guidelines allow.  JMU’s current athletics configuration will provide for each of its 18 intercollegiate programs to have the full allotment of NCAA-allowed grants by 2011.

Location: Harrisonburg, Va. 22807
Founded: 1908
Enrollment: 17,500
President: Dr. Linwood H. Rose (Virginia Tech 1973)
Director of Athletics: Jeff Bourne (Bridgewater 1981)
Affiliation: NCAA Division I
Conference: Colonial Athletic Association, Eastern College Athletic Conference
Colors: Purple (2685), Gold (1245 or 871)
Nickname: Dukes
Athletics Phone: (540) 568-6164
Athletics Website: JMUSports.com
Ticket Office Phone: (540) 568-3853 (JMU-DUKE)

JMU athletes benefit from a strength and conditioning program designed to develop their athleticism and sports performance. The athletes work with a strength and conditioning staff directed by Jim Durning and Master Strength & Conditioning Coach Greg Werner. Durning is the Director of Strength and Conditioning for football and oversees the strength and conditioning programs for the women’s lacrosse, field hockey, softball and men’s and women’s golf programs. Werner is the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach and Director of Strength and Conditioning for men’s and women’s basketball and oversees strength and conditioning for JMU’s baseball, women’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball programs. Durning is assisted by strength and conditioning coach Brandon Beach and graduate assistant Justin Jones. Werner is assisted by strength & conditioning coaches Callye Williams, Lee Rowland and several other interns and student assistants.

The center of JMU’s strength and conditioning program is located in Bridgeforth Stadium, a modern facility featuring 8 multi-use power racks each with separate dumbbell units that range from 5 to 120 pounds each and with a new integrated weightlifting, plyometric and speed development platform system, and a variety of modern equipment. Under Werner’s direction the JMU strength and conditioning program has expanded into six other training facilities on campus, which combined with the Bridgeforth Stadium facility total more than 17,000 square feet. These facilities include a 35-bike multipurpose plyometric and cardio room, separate state-of-the-art football and basketball training facilities, three other modern weight rooms, and a strength and conditioning coaches office complex.
In the summer of 2005, the new Plecker Athletics Performance Center opened, which includes a 7,000 square foot football strength and conditioning facility. The facility is directed by Durning and is utilized by football and those sports under Durning’s supervision.
In addition to Werner’s hands-on program for the athletes he has designed and developed a cutting-edge Web site for coaches and athletes, which may be reached by clicking on the linkhttp://orgs.jmu.edu/strength.

Strength & Conditioning Coaching Personnel
Beach, Brandon – SCCC, USAW, Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Conlogue, Kevin – MS, CSCS, SCCC, USAW Senior Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Durning, Jim – SCCC, USAW, Director of Strength & Conditioning for Football
Jones, Justin – SCCC, Graduate Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Rowland, Lee – CSCS, Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Werner, Greg – MS, MSCC, NSCA-CP, CSCS, SCCC, ACSM-HFI, CSNC,
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach/Director For Men’s & Women’s Basketball
Williams, Callye – MBA, SCCC, USAW Senior Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach

Robert & Frances Plecker Athletic Performance Center

Conveniently located adjacent to Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field, the Robert & Frances Plecker Athletic Performance Center provides JMU athletics with one of the nation’s top student-athlete support facilities.

Opening during the spring 2005 semester, the two-story Plecker Athletic Performance Center brings nearly every facet of the JMU football program into one structure. And while much of the Center’s space is football-related, its support facilities provide tremendous benefits throughout the JMU athletics program.

The Center houses locker, equipment, office, meeting and reception areas for the football program. It also includes academic support areas used by each of the University’s 18 intercollegiate sports programs, state-of-the-art sports medicine and strength training and conditioning facilities, reception areas that include JMU’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and a student-athlete lounge. A large Duke Dog is positioned in the plaza at the Center.

The spacious and attractive football locker room, which opens to the stadium field, has individual wood lockers, carpeting, and extensive modern audio and video equipment.

The football staff area includes offices for each of the team’s coaches, staff meeting and video areas, and large and small group meeting facilities.

The academic support area has a state-of-the-art computer lab, individual office areas for each academic support staff member, large and small areas for meetings and study groups, and areas for personalized tutorial sessions. The academic facility is named for Challace McMillin, JMU’s first football coach (1972-84) and a long-time University faculty member.

The 7,000-square-foot strength and conditioning area features an extensive array of equipment in addition to two 45-inch flat-screen televisions connected to digital cameras, allowing the strength and conditioning staff to train with athletes and to provide immediate visual feedback regarding their efforts.

The Center’s 5,000-square-foot sports medicine facility provides an outstanding addition to the sports medicine and health care services provided to all JMU student-athletes. Included at the Center are functional rehabilitation and hydrotherapy areas and physicians’ and administrative office areas. The facility, which is among several sports medicine areas at JMU’s various athletics venues, also provides for enhanced educational opportunities for students in JMU’s athletic training curriculum.

JMU announced plans for the Plecker Athletic Performance Center during the fall of 2001, and construction on the $10-million project began during August 2002. Also included was the addition of an on-campus facility for JMU’s track and field, field hockey, and lacrosse programs that previously used the Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field complex.

The Center is named for Harrisonburg’s Robert and Frances Plecker, who provided a major gift for its construction. The stadium playing field is named for Harrisonburg businessman Zane Showker, who was another major contributor to the project, as was the Winchester-area Bridgeforth family for whom the stadium is named.

Other contributors to the project also are recognized. The Center’s primary entrance area includes the names of major donors, columns at the front of the structure include donor names, and meeting rooms, offices and benches in the plaza area outside the Center’s main entrance include the names of contributors. Names of other contributors are included on stones that are part of the Center’s front plaza. The plaza is named in honor of the family of Dean Ehlers, JMU’s athletics director from 1971-93.

Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field

Bridgeforth Stadium/Showker Field is a 15,000-seat facility. Built in 1975 and enlarged in 1981, it also contains racquetball courts and the Duke Club, Marketing & Promotions, Sports Media Relations, Men’s and Women’s Golf, Cross Country and Track Offices. Originally named JMU Stadium, it was renamed in 1990 for William E. Bridgeforth, former member of the JMU Board of Visitors, and in 2003 the field was named in honor of JMU benefactor Zane Showker.  In 2004, the facility added a new scoreboard with video features and a new Field Turf in 2006.

Following the 2009 season, James Madison University Athletics and the football program will take the next step forward with the Campaign for Bridgeforth Stadium. Construction will begin immediately, expanding Bridgeforth Stadium into the preeminent Football Championship Subdivision football complex.

JMU Field Hockey/Track & Field Complex

Courtesy: JMUSports.com
http://www.jmusports.com
Field Hockey/Track & Field Complex

The James Madison University Field Hockey/Track & Field Complex is on the CISAT side of campus, and the Dukes began competition on the site in the fall of 2003. 

JMU Lacrosse and Soccer

JMU’s Women’s Lacrosse, Women’s Soccer and Men’s Soccer teams play on the northeast corner of campus at the JMU Lacrosse/Soccer Complex.  This is a multi-field complex, offering a practice field as well as a finely- manicured game-playing surface of natural grass.  The Dukes play afternoon and night games at the lighted complex.

Sinclair Gymnasium & Savage Natatorium

Godwin Hall was authorized by the Virginia General Assembly when Mills E. Godwin Jr. was governor of Virginia. It was completed in 1972 and named for the governor and his wife, Katherine, a JMU graduate. Godwin Hall contains the Sinclair Gymnasium, the Savage Natatorium, the kinesiology department office, dance offices, intercollegiate athletics offices and classrooms.

Sinclair Gymnasium, containing 5,000 seats, was named after Caroline Sinclair, former department head in physical and health education.

Savage Natatorium, an Olympic-sized pool with seats for 800 spectators, was named for Dorothy L. Savage, a former physical education teacher.

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Facts:

Degree Programs Offered
Undergraduate : 68
Master’s : 30
Educational Specialist: 2
Doctoral : 6
Total : 106

Degrees Conferred (2007-08)
Undergraduate: 3,504
Graduate : 639
Total: 4,143

On-campus Students (Fall 2008)
Undergrad Degree-Seeking: 16,619
Graduate Degree-Seeking: 1,136
Non-Degree-Seeking: 209
Full-Time: 17,078
Part-Time: 886
In-State: 70.3%
Out-of-State: 29.7%
Total on-campus enrollment : 17,964

Applicant details (Fall 2008)
Entering Class Applicants: 19,245
Enrolled: 3,957
Mean SAT (verbal and math only) Score (Freshman): 1148
Transfer Applicants: 1,781
Enrolled: 651
Total applicants: 21,026

Campus/Buildings (696 acres/108)
Academic/Administrative: 61
Support Facilities: 14
Student Housing: 33
TOTAL: 108