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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:

Project Directors

Mollie Godfrey

Associate Professor of English & African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, James Madison University

Seán McCarthy

Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication, James Madison University

Current Team Members & Project Partners

	Israa Alhassani Arabic Translator and Instructor, James Madison University
	Sylvia Whitney Beitzel Spanish Translator and Radio Announcer, WMRA Public Radio
	Kayleigh Bishop Graduate Assistant, Digital Projects, James Madison University
	Mary Beth Cancienne Professor of English Education, James Madison University
	Iliana Cosme-Brooks Graduate Assistant, WRTC, James Madison University
	Beau Dickenson K-12 Social Studies Supervisor for Rockingham County Public Schools
	David Hardy Associate Professor of Graphic Design, James Madison University
	Billo Harper Producer/Documentarian
	Kevin Hegg Head of Digital Projects, JMU Libraries
	Steven Holloway Director of Metadata Strategies, JMU Libraries
	Stephanie Howard Simms Center Supervisor at City of Harrisonburg Parks and Recreation
	Mariam Ismail Graduate Assistant, Digital Projects, James Madison University
	Allison Kincaid Graduate Teaching Assistant, Secondary Social Studies Education, James Madison University
	Owen Longacre Social Studies & National Board Certified Teacher at Rockingham County Public Schools
	Kirsten Mlodynia Digital Project Specialist, JMU Libraries
	Kirk Moyers Secondary Social Studies Coordinator, AVID District Director at Harrisonburg City Schools
	Jay Norton Undergraduate Intern, AAAD Studies, James Madison University
	Deanna Reed Mayor of Harrisonburg
	L. Renée Poet, Nonfiction Writer, and Assistant Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, James Madison University
	Leonard Richards Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education, James Madison University
	Vanessa Rouillon Spanish Translator and Independent Scholar
	Grover Saunders Immersive & Digital Projects Specialist
	Aram Shahin Arabic Translator and Associate Professor, James Madison University
	Mary Ann Smith-Tucker Northeast Neighborhood Community Member
	Michael Terrones Graduate Teaching Assistant, Secondary Social Studies Education, James Madison University

Former Team Members & Project Partners

Justin Attas

Graduate Assistant

Liana Bayne

Graduate Assistant

Lauren Cavendish

Undergraduate Intern

Christine Donovan

Digital Projects Specialist

Laura Drake

Digital Collections Librarian

James Hays

Undergraduate Intern

Ember Heishman

Graduate Assistant

Spencer Law

Undergraduate Intern

Robin Lyttle

Founder and President,

Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project

Megan Medeiros

Graduate Assistant

Kyle Ramey

Graduate Assistant

Alexa Senio

DigiComm Media Fellow

Celebrating Simms Interns & Students

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.

Celebrating Simms Advisory Board

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.

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.