Student Personnel Administrators: A Research Study

Barbara Millis of the United States Air Force Academy reviewed Richard Light’s Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds. She explained that in recent years, many copies of “Harvard Assessment Seminars I and II” had been issued to professors to develop college student’s education further. As well as these books, Light’s book had also been used to broaden the system. Millis further stated that Light’s book involved lengthy interviews that apprehended student’s college lifestyles. The evidence among the interviews were used to collect various data.

Making the transition from the disciplined routine of military life to the ambiguous routine of a college campus can be jarring for student veterans. These students face many challenges much different from those of a traditional college student. Many student veterans encounter emotional, mental, and physical repercussions from their service experience, which dramatically affect the manner in which they engage with other college peers, faculty, and staff. While physical injuries tend to be more pronounced; mental and emotional effects of military life will manifest through behavioral issues; such as fear of being in crowded hallways or needing a seat in the back of each classroom to feel more secure in their surroundings. The unseen vulnerabilities

My passion for this demographic stems out of my own personal experience. I spent most my childhood overseas in the largest military community outside the US in Germany. At a young age, I was taught to respect all military members and live a life of service. Through volunteering at numerous canned food drives and with the American Red Cross, I have learned that veterans often face financial and health difficulties following their completion of service. My father, a wounded military veteran, does not receive any compensation in return for his twenty years of service. Thus, my family faced economic hardships once we moved back to California in 2013, where we struggled to make ends meet. This injustice has motivated me to serve those who have sacrificed for our country. One of my goals in obtaining a Master’s in Global Health is to learn how to better accommodate and advocate for veterans and their health care needs. I hope to gain further insight and experience with this population through working with the veteran’s population of San

The intended purpose of this study was to describe and understand the identity development of student veterans as they transitioned from active duty service members to students at a higher educational institution. This study was “phenomenological” in nature and focused on seven individual, veteran, full time students completing their first undergraduate degree at CU Denver. Despite the increased number of student veterans on campus, there remains a continued lack of understanding regarding this section of the student population at colleges across the United States and as I learned, here at CU Denver as well. It is important that campus administrators have a solid understanding of student veterans’ needs and experiences in order to better assist them while they are here at CU Denver. In my study I concentrated on the actual experiences of seven student veterans attending college full time. This method was chosen because of its in-depth interview nature and the focus on participants’ lived experiences and worldviews. Veterans have detailed life experiences that are often not understood by non-veterans so in explaining some of my findings we civilians could have problems relating or understanding. Because of the time limitations involved in this project, interviewing a larger number of participants was not feasible, especially considering the attention to detail required for personal, one-on-one discussions. Furthermore, since the study focused on student veteran identity

Majority of the study participants were male gender, aged 25-44, White, non-Hispanic, with less than a bachelor’s degree, married, and overweight. Veterans and Service

To ensure that our project would be very successful as a group we discussed how could we make a big impact. This discussion leaded us to deciding to dedicate our service-learning project to helping Veterans and how we could help them. We establish a connection with VET HOUSE, this connection was established though Johnnie Mapples who is a veteran and was associated with VET HOUSE. We connected Mr. Willard Smith who is the coordinator for VET HOUSE, he informed us what was needed and the current numbers of people that are currently in the program. From establishing the connection and gathering information on how many people needed help we discussed what we would like to do for them and how can we accomplish it. We decided to collect personal

As the number of student veterans continues to increase within the university system, it is imperative to examine both the similarities and the differences between student veterans and traditional students (students without military experience), and what effect those differences may have on student veterans’ ability to succeed. We surveyed thirty undergraduates at the University of Alaska Anchorage, assessing their grade point average, age, hours spent studying, and various other factors which we deemed our “criteria for success”. In doing so, we believed that we would find a radical difference between the grade point average of student veterans compared to their traditional counterparts. The data collected suggests that our hypothesis was correct: student veterans were a letter grade behind their peers. This gap in achievement between the two groups suggests that student veterans’ ability to adjust to life within the university system requires further examination. As more veterans continue to seek higher education, it is essential that those within the university system strive to understand, and alleviate some of the difficulties burdening this emerging demographic.

Veteran and military student support programs on college’s campuses are vital for academic success and degree completion. These programs also support this student population in other areas including career advising, mental health advising, and peer-to-peer networking. To understand how we can continue to develop programs and services to support these students, it is critical that we first explore content that exposes historical practices that has shaped how we engage and interact with veterans and current military students. Support programs for veterans and military students are not new to the practice of higher education; military support programs have been in existence since students have returned from WWII, however until the recent decade

Elliott et al. (2011) mentioned that specialty programs for student veterans are needed to have more of a mental service and/or mental health approach to programming. They concluded that military students are experiencing symptoms of PTSD or are living with functional limits caused by service injuries. Due to these concerns, it was concluded that student counseling and disability services need to be included in the creation of and implementation of student support programs to help with academic and campus success (Elliot et al.,

Thelin (2011) also agreed and stated the following in regards to the postwar ear of World War II, “the fundamental historic change that set into motion the dramatic expansion of enrollments as well as numerous curricular innovations”. It was not that the postwar era of World War II created the system of higher education, instead the higher the postwar era of World War II instead demonstrated or refined the system of higher education (Cardozier, n.d.). It helped refine the system and it also produced one of the most significant piece of legislation presented during this era, the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 also known as the GI Bill. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 “counted several provisions, including vocational education counseling, loans to buy a business, loans for operating a bus or a farm, home loans, and other assistance, but it became most widely known for it’s provision supporting college education (Cardpzoer, n.d.). According to the U.S. Department of VA (n.d.), “The GI Bill impacted the United States in three aspects, socially, economically, and politically” all in which positively impacted the system of higher education in terms of student recruitment, retention, and

Two years ago, I thought over potential post graduation plans while returning to school from Thanksgiving break, “So I’ll try to intern the summer before Senior year at JP Morgan, and then hopefully land an offer with them for a two year contract and after that go on to…” Suddenly the train stopped, and a soldier entered and sat across from me. A love for people and respect for our military motivated me to greet him, and we engaged in a moving conversation about his military service and my life as a student for the rest of the train ride. When we arrived in Washington, we exchanged goodbyes, and although I felt happy immediately after our conversation, I curiously felt an empty sadness when I returned to campus.

Barnard-Brak et.al (2011) investigated the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to explain why faculty-reported negative feelings about serving in the military when working with returning student-veterans. The researchers explained that the reason for faculty reporting these negative feelings may be associated with lower reported levels of self-efficacy of faculty members to teach student-veterans after they return from war. The research surveyed 596 faculty members as participants in the current research who were teaching students who displayed symptoms of PTSD. The participants gave their views of serving in the military in order to explore their ability or self-efficacy to address the combat veteran-students’ needs in

On August 8, 2014, I relocated to Fayetteville, North Carolina from Bahama, North Carolina to attend Fayetteville State University’s Master of Social Work Program. Fayetteville, North Carolina’s significant military population and the academic program offered many opportunities to students interested in researching and practicing with military personnel and their families initially generating an interest for me in the program. Within the first twenty-fours of living in Fayetteville, North Carolina, I had the opportunity to experience the military culture and the pride that residents exhibited for military personnel. I observed military personnel in uniforms, multiple car magnets that stated, “we support our troops”, military discount signs

A major issues that affects service members when transitioning to civilian life is a lack of knowledge regarding resources available through the VSA and Nonprofit Veteran Service organizations. In the last two weeks we have been introduced to two service members, an active duty service member as well as a recently separated Veteran. In their interviews both expressed they receive the most support and knowledge regarding resources that are available to them from fellow Veterans. GySgt. Diego Guerra stated that during his Tap classes he felt inundated with information. He felt that the majority of classes he participated in were overcrowded and left little room for personal consultations with the instructors. If classes were smaller and allowed

One of the primary factors in the transition of the Student Affairs profession over the years has been political influences and government spending on higher education initiatives. Political officials hold an enormous amount of power over institutions of higher learning, especially those that are public. These representatives’ legislative powers can help or hinder the education community, specifically within Student Affairs. “The federal government provides funding for student aid, as well as for research and development” (McClellan & Stringer, 2009, p. 109) and that financial support often has great influence over the current endeavors that a University is pursing. Additionally, the government has an immense effect on the Student Affairs community through the legislative process. With the passing of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, a flood of new students surged the higher education landscape, and the need for student services skyrocketed. According to Leddy (2009), there was a severe deficiency of student housing and a low number of faculty members nationwide, however, with the influx of veterans, colleges expanded to meet the increase in demand (para. 3). While the passing of this act, along with many others has positively affected the higher education landscape, the direct connection of politics in higher education and Student Affairs can best be seen during times of financial stress and cutbacks.