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People
The Celebrating Simms project has been designed and developed around the core principles of collaborative practice and design justice. Our team and project partners include:
Current Project Directors
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Mollie Godfrey
Associate Professor of English & African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, James Madison University
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Seán McCarthy
Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication, James Madison University
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Current Team Members & Project Partners
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Mary Beth Cancienne
Professor of English Education, James Madison University
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Beau Dickenson
K-12 Social Studies Supervisor for Rockingham County Public Schools
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David Hardy
Associate Professor of Graphic Design, James Madison University
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Billo Harper
Producer/Documentarian
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Kevin Hegg
Head of Digital Projects, JMU Libraries
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Steven Holloway
Director of Metadata Strategies, JMU Libraries
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Stephanie Howard
Simms Center Supervisor at City of Harrisonburg Parks and Recreation
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Owen Longacre
Social Studies & National Board Certified Teacher at Rockingham County Public Schools
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Kirsten Mlodynia
Digital Project Specialist, JMU Libraries
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Kirk Moyers
Secondary Social Studies Coordinator, AVID District Director at Harrisonburg City Schools
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Deanna Reed
Mayor of Harrisonburg
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Grover Saunders
Immersive & Digital Projects Specialist
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Mary Ann Smith-Tucker
Northeast Neighborhood Community Member
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Former Team Members & Project Partners
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Israa Alhassani
Arabic Translator and Instructor
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Justin Attas
Graduate Assistant
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Liana Bayne
Graduate Assistant
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Sylvia Whitney Beitzel
Spanish Translator and Editor
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Kayleigh Bishop
Graduate Assistant
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Lauren Cavendish
Undergraduate Intern
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Iliana Cosme-Brooks
Graduate Assistant
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Christine Donovan
Digital Projects Specialist
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Laura Drake
Digital Collections Librarian
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James Hays
Undergraduate Intern
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Ember Heishman
Graduate Assistant
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Mariam Ismail
Graduate Assistant
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Allison Kincaid
Graduate Teaching Assistant
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Spencer Law
Undergraduate Intern
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Robin Lyttle
Former Celebrating Simms Co-Director and Founder of the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project
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Megan Medeiros
Graduate Assistant
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Jay Norton
Undergraduate Intern
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Kyle Ramey
Graduate Assistant
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L. Renée
Poet, Nonfiction Writer, and Oral Historian
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Leonard Richards
Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education
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Vanessa Rouillon
Spanish Translator and Independent Scholar
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Alexa Senio
DigiComm Media Fellow
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Aram Shahin
Arabic Translator and Associate Professor
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Michael Terrones
Graduate Teaching Assistant
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Celebrating Simms Interns & Students
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Our original 2015-2016 team of interns and students included Peter Boye, Lindsey Campbell, De‘Shondra Dandridge, Paige Evans, Deana Forbes, Kailyn Harris-Gilliam, Anne Hardrick, Amanda Harvey, Micah Hodges, Hannah Jones, Katie McVicar, Emily Nava, Trevor Ohnmeiss, Raiy Pattinson, Brett Seekford, Ashley Short, and Ellie Terrett.
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Celebrating Simms Advisory Board
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Our original 2015-2016 Simms Advisory Board included Doris Harper Allen, Sharon Barber, Reverend Harold L. Brown Sr., Judith Carter Brown, Howard Curry, Dorothy Dickerson, Twyla French, Greg Johnson, Wilhelmina Johnson, Edna Mitchell, Deanna Reed, Ruth M. Toliver, Jennifer Vickers, and Betty Lou Winkey, among many others. Since then, the project has also benefited and grown from the engagement of Elaine Blakey, Jim Johnson, Carol Raymond, Karen Thomas, and more.
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Acknowledgments
In addition to these key team members, partners, and collaborators, we had numerous experts work with our students and us to support this project, including History professors Mark Metzler Sawin (EMU), Steve Reich (JMU), Kevin Borg (JMU), Jacqueline Goldsby (Yale University), and local historian Dale MacAllister. Many thanks to David Ehrenpreis and Daniel Robinson at the IVS for providing the space, resources, and expertise to make the project possible. Many, many thanks to Stephanie Howard and her team for making the exhibition possible at the Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center in Harrisonburg. Finally, the project would not have been possible without financial support from JMU’s IDEA grant and faculty senate mini-grant, the JMU Office of Research and Scholarship, JMU Libraries, JMU's College of Arts and Letters, JMU's College of Education, JMU's African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Center, JMU's English and WRTC Departments, Harrisonburg City Public Schools, and funding from Virginia Humanities.
In loving memory of Doris Harper Allen (1927–2021).
Not gone from us, just gone before us.
