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Today we're here with the College of Education Executive Advisory
Council. This is a group that was so enjoyable and so energetic.
They represent, of course, the heart of our mission: the educators.
Taking us, both back to our roots but also, very importantly, helping
us to think about our future and our central role when it comes to education
and educating the next generations of students. We talked a lot
about this idea of being a physical presence, making educational
programs available to people in other parts of the state and
perhaps beyond the state as well. We have, of course, people here
on the EAC who are from northern Virginia, and southern Virginia,
and central and eastern parts of the state where they're, in some
cases, several hours away from this campus, and yet when they
talk about getting advanced degrees or certificates or other
education after they leave JMU, they say, gosh, if we were closer,
if we had more of a presence, they would really opt for JMU if that
was a possibility for them. Certainly we can use technology, we
have online courses and programs already that are available to people.
But we also heard that we need to do much more to let people
know about those possibilities, and still that there may be
occasions when having an actual physical presence in other
locations might be helpful. So I think that's something that we, at least, have to talk
about and think about going forward. It was a great reminder today
to be with these educators who talked about the personal touch
and they said that with James Madison University we need to have
balanced, careful, managed growth in order to maintain that core
integrity of who we are, those personal connections between faculty
members and students. For students to come here and feel known,
and valued, and respected. That's been so important throughout
our history and needs to continue to be a part of who we are. This
is a group that we cannot thank them enough for their service to
society. When I think about the people who made a great difference
in my life, the first people that come to mind, in addition to my own
family, are my teachers. In fact, one of my high school teachers was
here at the inauguration last week, over 30 years later, after I had
graduated from high school. To this day I remember what a
difference he made in my life, encouraging me to be an exchange
student in Japan and opened my eyes to a whole new world. That's
what teachers do, that's what these people are doing - they're
making a difference in the lives of next generations of students so
we can't say "thank you" enough.