James Madison University - Bluestone Schoolmaam Yearbook (Harrisonburg, VA)

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It ' s the End College of Business graduates listen during their individual ceremony. While the College of Arts graduates walked in the rain, those with indoor locations stayed dry. President Linwood H. Rose says farewell with the graduating class Rain clouds loomed on the morning of May 5 as graduates and their families filed into Bridgefor th Stadium. While this was the first undergraduate commencement ceremony held in the expanded stadium, it was also a last: President Linwood H. Rose ' s last time presiding over a commencement at the university. But Rose, who delivered the commencement address, and his preceding speakers portrayed the day not as an end, but as a beginning. JUST BECAUSE YOU ' RE LEAVING JMU, IT DOESN ' T MEAN JMU IS LEAVING YOU. Rheanna Martino, senior and Class of 201 2 president Student Body President Patrick Watral emphasized the meaning of the word commencement. Today is not when our Madison experience ends, but when we begin to make our societies, workplaces, towns and homes better places by putting our JMU values into practice, said Watral. Despite nostalgic reflection of the last four years, student speaker and Class of 2012 President Rheanna Martino echoed this message. Just because you ' re leaving JMU, it doesn ' t mean JMU is leaving you, said Martino. Before the commencement address, Jamie Miller, president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, recognized Rose for his years with the university by presenting him with an honorary alumnus award. In what is now his 37th year at Madison, Dr. Rose has played a critical role in the university remaining true to itself, its students, faculty, family and alumni, said Miller. Dr. Rose has taught us what it means to say, we are ' All Together One. ' We are ' Be the Change. ' We are ' The Madison Experience. ' This was only the fifth time in Alumni Association history that the award was presented, which Miller said was for Rose ' s steadfast leadership as the fifth president of James Madison University. As Rose took the podium, a light sprinkle began and umbrellas popped up throughout the stadium. Through a handful of humorous stories, Rose had a few key messages to impart. He emphasized faith in people, expressing his belief that everyone has a talent, a unique ability, a genius about them. The genius is there, said Rose. The talent is in every person. Help to discover it. Uncover it and nurture it. Enable others and create conditions for discovery. You will find the investments to be gratifying. His other key points were that mistakes are just another way of doing things and that everyone should live a life worth living. Rose expressed faith in the Class of 2012. While you ' ve been at Madison, I ' ve personally witnessed again and again the unselfish, service-oriented, including approach that JMU students make, he said. It is my hope that youi future will continue to be shaped by the disposition, habits and attitudes that you have developed here - that you will carry these virtues forward to make a life worth living. Despite the theme of beginnings that colored the morning, Rose could not avoid mentioning the end of his term. When I accepted this job in 1998, 1 said that it was the best presidency in America. I meant it then, and it remains true today, said Rose. As they say, all good things must come to an end. I cannot imagine anyone I ' d rather go out with than the Class of 2012. WORDS DESIGN j Sarah Lockwood PHOTOS | JMU Photography Services 22 | Features

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What ' s your biggest regret as president? I don ' t have do-overs. I have regrets. The decision to eliminate 10 sports because of compliance with Title IX [2006] is something I regret, but I don ' t think a mistake was made. I think we were limited in our choices and we made the best decision. 1 certainly regret the impact of it. I ' ve spent my whole life trying to create opportunities for students and so to take opportunity away is not something that I think is typical of this university or what I want to achieve. I ' m rarely faced with choices of good and bad. The choices I ' m faced with are between many good things. So we have to decide what ' s the best one - what provides the greatest positive rate of return for the university. It ' s disappointing that we don ' t have enough money to support everything that everybody would like to do. What does it take to be a great professor at JMU? The ability to go beyond just possessing knowledge. To transcend that and be able to inspire and take advantage of the spark of genius that everybody has related to the topic that they ' re teaching. To really create an interest on the part of the student to want to leam more and want to know more. What do you plan to do after you leave JMU? I ' d like to go to a football game without a suit. I intend very much to stay a part of JMU life and a part of this community - just not in any kind of administrative way. It will be up to the new president to assume the reigns and the leadership in the university. When I became president, Dr. (Ronald] Carrier, who had been president for 27 and a half years, was such a hands-on kind of leader that everybody expected he would kind of reach back from the grave and try to control things and direct things. To his credit, he never once did. I ' m sure there were times when that was hard for him because he ' s been right here in Harrisonburg and watched things develop. So I ' ve learned a lesson from that He ' s always been there to support me when I ' ve asked for it. I think that ' s a good model for how I should behave and act. What do you think the future president needs to be successful? Well hopefully the board will hire someone who shares the kind of values and beliefs and mission for the university that exists now. In terms of changes, I would expect that a new person would bring their personality, their energy, their talents, will have their interests and will affect some change in the university. Our history has been with only five presidents in 103 years, and people have made decisions for the long-term benefit of the university as opposed to decision to beef up their resume and prepare themselves to go on to another job. So you ' ve seen a real commitment to the institution ... people were really dedicated to the university. I think a new president, if he or she is going to be really successful here, will need to bring that same kind of quality and same interest in the institution, which really means an interest in students and the faculty and staff. Sum up your term in one word. It ' s a little cliche, but I guess I would say, love. Because a long time ago, this stopped being a job. I don ' t just mean being president, but being here 36 years. You have to love what you do and you have to love where you are and you have to love who you ' re working with. All those things have clicked here for me. WORDS j Rachel Dozier DESIGN I Sarah Lockwood PHOTOS j JMU Photography Services Tommy Thompson President Linwood H. Rose poses for a series of relaxed portraits in 1998, his first year as president. East Campus Library was renamed Rose Library in Rose ' s honor. ROSE ' S PRESIDENCY BY THE NUMBERS APPOINTED IN 1998 as the 5th president. 36 THAT ' S 4 presidential years a total of with JMU BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTED f f new academic J I I programs £■ SQUARE FEET O ADDED TO CAMPUS CM £ 37% ENROLLMENT INCREASED BY admissions applicants reached Ot the four-year graduation rate increased by Source: commencement program 2012 per year UJ U UJ Q President Lindwood H. Rose | 21

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Finding each other at the 9 a.m. ceremony, graduates embrace before taking their seats. The Convocation Center housed the previous two commencement ceremonies while construction continued on Bridgeforth Stadium. to these decorated caps, continuing a fun gradu ation tradition Graduation | 23