JMU Environmental Stewardship Tour

Adjacent to JMU's Bridgeforth Stadium, the Godwin Transit Center (GTC) is a multimodal transportation hub with a host of JMU transportation resources: frequent inner-campus shuttles, buses that travel City of Harrisonburg transit routes, regional buses, and a bicycle fix-it station. JMU has implemented many strategies to encourage more sustainable modes of transportation and reduce the impact of student and employee commuting. Students' and faculty members' projects have contributed to improvements.

In 2012, Wayland Hall became the first renovated residence hall in the United States to achieve platinum-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. The renovation strategy at James Madison University’s Wayland Residence Hall pursued the highest levels of sustainable design in 2010, as described in the  Wayland Hall Renovation Design brochure . Wayland Hall is a residence hall with a  living learning community for visual and performing arts , and can only be viewed from the exterior.

Contact: Abe Kaufman, Energy Conservation & Sustainability Manager, kaufmaat@jmu.edu

The John C. Wells Planetarium is a state-of-the-art facility that offers school visits, camps, and free public shows. A focal point of planetarium efforts has been light pollution, and faculty and students associated with the planetarium have informed the actions of the university. Since 2017, JMU's Facilities Management Department has selected outdoor lights for construction projects and renovations to reduce energy consumption, maintenance, and light pollution. Recent JMU student-led shows related to environmental stewardship explore light pollution locally to globally, and include a JMU student-produced film that you can preview by following the "learn more" link below.

For more information, visit the JMU  Planetarium  website.

Contact: Send general inquiries to planetarium@jmu.edu

The Student Success Center at James Madison University provides a collaborative, high-impact environment to support student learning, student health, and student services. The center is a hub of programs and services helping students become more efficient, effective, and engaged learners with space to study, collaborate, and learn. The Student Success Center received the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification in 2015. Interior signage educates JMU community members and visitors about the sustainability features of the building.

The Sibert Creek Rain Garden is designed to allow water to soak into the ground while treating pollutants. Underneath the mulch and plants in the rain garden are layers of other materials, including a layer that is a mixture of compost, sand, and topsoil. Plants in the rain garden serve to further aid in the treatment of pollutants from the water. In addition, the plants, many of which are native to this region, are drought and disease resistant and provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. This project was informed by student and faculty studio course work in 2009.

For more information, visit the  JMU Stormwater Management  website.

Contact Dale Chestnut, Stormwater Coordinator, chestndl@jmu.edu

Formerly a traditionally manicured grass area, the Hillside has been transformed into an outdoor educational ecosystem that provides students and faculty with an outdoor learning resource and demonstrates JMU's commitment to environmental stewardship. Collaboratively developed by JMU faculty, students, staff, community members, and a Visiting Scholar, the project won a silver-level Governor's Environmental Excellence Award in 2014. More than three thousand undergraduate students have engaged with the East Campus Hillside, and it is used regularly in more than 15 courses.

Lemon verbena, gladiolas, fox gloves, and black-eyed susans are only a few of the 50 different types of plants that may be growing on the Patio Garden. From its creation in 2011, the faculty-developed and tended patio garden project was implemented to beautify the area to attract use, enable educational activities involving plants, and provide a better working environment.

This academic facility earned silver-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in 2013. Building features include a green roof, pollinator beds, and stormwater elements. The extensive green roof that covers 16% of the roof area is estimated to reduce annual roof runoff by 12% or 109,732 gallons. 

The Small Wind Training and Testing Facility (SWTTF) at JMU provides the primary resource in Virginia for training developers and installers of small wind power projects and other trades who support such efforts. The facility offers hands-on, experiential curriculum for all education levels (K-12, 2-yr, 4-yr, post-secondary), engages professionals who seek to enter the wind energy field, and provides an independent testing capability in the region. The SWTTF is organized by The JMU Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy (CASE), which focuses on research, education, and outreach to advance sustainable energy deployment by providing energy-related services to a wide variety of stakeholders including local governments, state agencies, landowners, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and academic communities.

For more information, visit the  CASE  website.

Contact: Send general inquiries to oasejmu@gmail.com

The East Campus Dining Hall (E-Hall) was JMU's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified facility, receiving gold-level certification in 2010. Both pre and post-consumer waste from E-hall and other residential dining halls is composted, and pre-consumer waste from all other campus dining locations is composted. In partnership with the Food Recovery Network at JMU, a student organization, food that would otherwise be wasted is used to feed the community. Dining locations are important sites for student peer-to-peer and institutional messaging around sustainable dining choices. For example, JMU Dining Services interns and multiple JMU student projects educate about preventing dining-related waste though annual programs such as Weigh the Waste and the RecycleMania competition (now renamed Campus Race to Zero Waste). To learn about what Dining Services is doing and what you can do, visit the  JMU Dining Services Sustainability website. 

The Madison Garden came to fruition after winning the 2012 JMU Student Challenge, a donor-sponsored student competition designed to promote innovation in sustainability. Since its construction in 2013, the Madison Garden has been used by students to grow food for both JMU and the local community. The garden is supported by student volunteers.

For more information, visit the  JMU Dining Services Sustainability  website.

Contact: Ben Rosenberger, Aramark Sustainability, rosenberger-benjamin@aramark.com

JMU's new land bridge facilitates pedestrian access on East Campus. The original 1.5 acres of forest/open space meadow in the project area was increased to 3.7 acres of forest/open space meadow and will help meet stormwater management runoff reduction requirements. The area is intended to be used for pollinator education and outreach.

For more information, visit  JMU Facilities Management's sustainable land maintenance  website.

Pending final confirmation, JMU’s newest residence hall will also be the first new construction project on campus designed to meet the green building standards of The Virginia Energy Conservation and Environmental Standards (VEES), following Wilson Hall as the campus’s first renovation project to meet VEES goals. Paul Jennings Hall, named for an enslaved person to the Madison family, connects with the three dimensions of sustainability – economic, social and environmental – as it helps to tell a more complex and inclusive history of James Madison while also honoring the important legacy of Paul Jennings. The residence hall is home to 500 students and includes a historical exhibit in the lobby, which is open to the JMU community during designated hours.

The Edith J. Carrier Arboretum, a woodland sanctuary on the James Madison University campus, is a public urban garden and forested greenspace that preserves native plant species, provides opportunities for research, and promotes knowledge of the botanical and natural world for people of all ages. In 2015, the Arboretum’s stream was restored using natural stream channel design to reduce erosion, reconnect the natural floodplain, decrease pollutants, and enhance the sustainability and beauty of this campus landmark. The Arboretum remains an educational tool and a living laboratory where JMU faculty and students frequently study both the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of this unique urban landscape.

For more information, visit the  Arboretum  website.

Contact: Send general inquiries to ejcarboretum@jmu.edu

UREC operates an award-winning recreation facility, opened in 1996, and also utilizes additional indoor and outdoor facilities around campus including University Park. In 2013, University Park received silver-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. Subsequently, UREC's indoor facility was expanded and renovated in 2016, earning the building a silver-level LEED certification. UREC programs for students also use adventure as a platform for connecting with nature and educating about the importance of caring for the outdoors by offering trips that teach and follow “Leave No Trace” principles while hiking, kayaking, skiing, canoeing and more. Additionally, UREC offers classes by students for students, which promote sustainable life skills.

For more information, visit the  UREC  website.

Contact: Send general inquiries to urec@jmu.edu