At JMU engagement is conceptualized as consisting of three overlapping areas: engaged learning, community engagement, and civic engagement. Civic engagement is political at JMU and is promoted by the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement (a.k.a. JMU Civic), whose mission is to educate and inspire people to address public issues and cultivate a just and inclusive democracy. As a nonpartisan entity embedded within Academic Affairs, JMU Civic emphasizes the acquisition of knowledge to make one a more informed participant in our democracy, skills to make one a more effective participant, and values that embrace pluralism, open-mindedness, empathy, respect, diversity and inclusion.

Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) is a dynamic skills portfolio designed to capture students’ progress in a wide range of activities, through graduation, and beyond. Students benefit directly because CLR brings coherence across courses, assessment, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities, capturing all achievements in their journey to attain and maintain competency. CLR provides data to guide instructors, advisors, and academic support teams. Finally, CLR empowers students to articulate achievements, backed up by rich evidence, to prospective employers demonstrating their readiness for the workforce.