Community Outreach and Regional Engagement
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Who are today's student veterans? What tools do they need to succeed on your campus? Student veterans are growing in number on college campuses. In 2013, more than 1 million student veterans were using their GI benefits to pursue advanced educational opportunities, and this number is estimated to increase by 20 percent during the next few years. The following resources and student organizations can offer insights on today's student veterans and ways to support their individual needs while attending school.
As a faculty or staff member at a postsecondary institution, you may wonder what you can do to support military-connected students. You can become familiar with what networks may be established at your institution. Your institution's veterans services coordinator and VA benefits School Certifying Official can assist you.
The VA College Toolkit provides information and resources for postsecondary institutions for building and enhancing networks and helpful information to include in your syllabus. In addition to your on-campus community, the Consortium of Michigan Veteran Educators (CMVE) connects higher educational professions in their efforts to support student veterans and their families.
MVAA CAMPUS TRAININGS AND WEBINAR SESSIONS
MVAA has developed trainings for academic administrators, staff and faculty to support increased understanding of student veterans for institutions of higher learning. Trainings have been designed to introduce a variety of topics relative to student veterans and their unique transitional needs while in enrolled in postsecondary educational programs. Training sessions can be delivered in webinar and live presentation formats.
Topics include:
Military Competency 101
Career Assistance for Veteran from Classroom to Employment
Understanding the Needs of Veterans for Educators and Academic Staff
VA CAMPUS TOOLKIT
Contact the MVAA educational specialist to learn more about MVAA trainings, initiatives and programs to support student veterans on campus at mvaastrategy@michigan.gov.
The Syracuse University research team at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families and the Institute for National Security & Counterterrorism published the 2015 report, Missing Perspectives: Servicemembers' Transition from Service to Civilian Life. The findings comprise the first in a series of reports designed to challenge higher education officials to find better ways to help students moving from military service to civilian life.
The VA Campus Toolkit provides faculty, staff and administrators resources to support student veterans. Its purpose is to help campuses welcome these men and women by recognizing who they are and understanding their unique experiences, adjustments and needs.
AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION MILITARY VETERAN RESOURCES
The ACE Military Guide presents recommendations for formal courses and occupations offered by all branches of the military. These credit recommendations appear on the service member's Joint Services Transcript. All recommendations are based on ACE reviews conducted by college and university faculty members who are actively teaching in the areas they review. New courses and occupations are continually being evaluated and added.
ACE also offers a collaborative online resource, Toolkit for Veteran Friendly Institutions. It highlights a variety of best practices including veteran-specific orientation, on-campus veteran service centers, prospective student outreach efforts, faculty training and counseling and psychological services for veteran students.
STUDENT VETERAN RESEARCH
Student Veteran Organizations
SVA is a nonprofit coalition of student veterans groups on college campuses across the globe. These member chapters are the "boots on the ground" that help veterans reintegrate into campus life and succeed academically. Each chapter must be an officially recognized student group by their university or college and provide a peer-to-peer network for veterans who are attending the school.
Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE) is a peer support program that connects incoming student veterans on college campuses with student veterans who are trained as Peer Advisors who can help them navigate college life, address challenges they may face, refer them to appropriate resources on and off campus, and provide ongoing support.
The PAVE Program is part of M-SPAN (Military Support Programs and Networks), a group of programs at the University of Michigan developed to address the needs and challenges faced by service members, veterans and military families.
PAVE is a partnership between the University of Michigan Depression Center and Student Veterans of America.