Creating a Veteran-Friendly Campus: Strategies for Transition and Success

As the United States? wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue, increasing numbers of students who experienced combat will enroll in colleges and universities. There is mounting evidence that these veterans will require support unique to their needs beyond the processing of financial aid paperwork from the Veterans Administration. Obviously, combat frequently inflicts injuries, both physical and mental, that will require attention, but veterans are a unique population in other ways as well. Soldiers experience extraordinary bonding in wartime, and colleges can provide opportunities for that fellowship to be a source of support and connection. Female veterans will bring a new, nontraditional perspective to campus, and student service organizations should pay careful attention. There is also a significant group of students who leave for service and return?under the best of circumstances, they need accommodation to succeed. Institutions of higher education traditionally have responded to the needs of special student populations by developing programs and offering services. This volume contains information about programmatic initiatives that can help create a welcoming environment for veterans, one that encourages serious, creative involvement. The authors bring broad experience and deliberate consideration to bear on questions that are only becoming more important to the entire spectrum of American colleges and universities. This is the 126th volume of the Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly report series New Directions for Student Services, an indispensable resource for vice presidents of student affairs, deans of students, student counselors, and other student services professionals. Each issue of New Directions for Student Services offers guidelines and programs for aiding students in their total development: emotional, social, physical, and intellectual.

Auteur

Robert Ackerman is associate professor of higher education leadership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where he served as vice president for student services from 1986 to 2000. He edited The Mid-Level Manager in Student Affairs and was co-editor of Student Freedom Revisited, both publications of NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. He is a founder of and faculty advisor to the UNLV Student Veterans Organization. David DiRamio is assistant professor of higher education administration at Auburn University. He has coauthored five research articles, including "From Combat to Campus: Voices of Student-Veterans" in the NASPA Journal. He serves as NASPA's liaison for an American Council on Education initiative to help several injured veterans attend college.

Contenu
EDITORS'NOTES 1
Robert Ackerman, David DiRamio 1. Transitions: Combat Veterans as College Students 5
*Robert Ackerman, David DiRamio, Regina L. Garza Mitchell

• This chapter presents research on how students have handled the transition from combat to campus and uses these personal experiences to shape recommendations on how campuses can address the special needs of this population.

2. The Mobilization and Return of Undergraduate Students Serving in the National Guard and Reserves 15
*Mark Bauman

• Personnel in the National Guard and reserves are subjected to periodic activations that are disruptive to their enrollment as students. This chapter reports on research that explains the transitions that students go through when they are called to active duty and later return to student status.

3. Supporting Student Veterans in Transition 25
*Corey B. Rumann, Florence A. Hamrick

• Relationships between higher education and the military to support students who are veterans have developed over time. This chapter examines how the changing needs of the military have influenced the development of campus-based programs to meet the needs of veterans.

4. Meeting the Needs of Women Veterans 35
*Margaret Baechtold, Danielle M. De Sawal

• The conflicts in the Middle East have changed the role of women in the military, and the impact of the changes are not fully understood. This chapter outlines the issues and suggests ways that campus leaders can help veterans who are women to adjust as they return to civilian life.

5. A Statewide Approach to Creating Veteran-Friendly Campuses 45
*Jayne M. Lokken, Donald S. Pfeffer, James McAuley, Christopher Strong

• Meeting the needs of veterans has become a statewide priority in some places. This chapter explores how an institution of higher education collaborated with state agencies to offer enhanced services to veterans.

6. Ensuring the Success of Deploying Students: A Campus View 55
*Teresa Johnson

• Developing programs to support student veterans is a campuswide task that involves both faculty and personnel from various administrative offices. This chapter details how, through the efforts of staff members, Appalachian State University gained a reputation for being a veteranfriendly campus.

7. Connections, Partnerships, Opportunities, and Programs to Enhance Success for Military Students 61
*Deborah Ford, Pamela Northrup, Lusharon Wiley

• Colleges are better able to meet the needs of students when partnerships are formed with other committed service providers. At the University of West Florida, outreach efforts have resulted in programs to address the learning needs of active military personnel.

8. Student Veterans Organizations 71
*John Summerlot, Sean-Michael Green, Daniel Parker

• Military service forms bonds among those who have experienced that unique culture. This chapter examines the processes used to develop student veterans organizations on campuses and the role of those organizations in providing support and connection for those who have had the shared experience of military service.

9. Partnering to Assist Disabled Veterans in Transition 81
*David DiRamio, Michele Spires

• One of the ways that society is beginning to respond to the needs of seriously wounded veterans is by connecting them with educational opportunities. An innovative program designed to help wounded veterans access educational opportunities is sponsored by the American Council on Education.

10. Stewards of the Public Trust: Federal Laws That Serve Servicemembers and Student Veterans 89
*Michael McGrevey, Darryl Kehrer

• To effectively serve the needs of student veterans, campus administrators should be aware of the range of government-supported benefit programs that are available. This chapter provides a description of the benefits and explains how to obtain additional information.

INDEX 95