Called to Serve A Handbook on Student Veterans and Higher Education

Called to Serve

Over the past several years, veteran enrollment in universities, community colleges, and vocational programs has increased dramatically. Called to Serve offers academics and administrators a handbook highlighting the most current research, program initiatives, and recommendations for creating policies and services that can help student veterans and service members succeed, including:

• Strategies for organizing and staffing services for veterans and service members
• Suggestions for creating institutional infrastructures and policies related to enrollment, transfer, and degree completion
• Frameworks for working with service members with physical, emotional, and learning disabilities

Praise for Called to Serve

"An excellent resource tool for key university leadership who desire to support the success of incoming and current student veterans."
?Renee T. Finnegan, colonel (retired), executive director, Military Initiatives and Partnerships, Office of the President, University of Louisville

"One of the more compelling issues of our time is the integration of returning veterans and service members into our society following their service to our country. This handbook will be a critical tool in guiding higher education professionals in developing strategies to ensure their success in college."
?Kevin Kruger, president, NASPA?Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

"This timely book explains and presents a new meaning of 'called to service.' The issues and vignettes bring to life real situations that will be facing all campuses. I highly recommend this valuable resource to those looking forward and not back."
?Gregory Roberts, executive director, ACPA?College Student Educators International

"I have waited over forty years for such a comprehensive handbook to be written about the challenges, opportunities, and rewards that are associated with providing higher education to America's veterans?our future leaders. Well done."
?Robert E. Wallace, Vietnam veteran and executive director, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., Washington Office

Preface: Setting the Context xi

About the Editors xix

About the Contributors xxi

1 The Military and Higher Education in the United States 1
Dexter Alexander and John R. Thelin

2 Contemporary Political and Legislative Frameworks for Serving Veterans and Service Members 20
Sally Caspers and Robert Ackerman

Vignette 39
Joshua Lang

3 Activations, Deployments, and Returns 41
Wade G. Livingston and Mark C. Bauman

Vignette 69
Nina Duong

4 Contemporary Student Veterans and Service Members: Enrollment Patterns and Student Engagement 71
Danielle M. DeSawal

Vignette 87
Sally Caspers

5 The Complexity of Veteran Identity: Understanding the Role of Gender, Race and Sexuality 89
Susan V. Iverson and Rachel Anderson

Vignette 114
Annie Rose Badder

6 Understanding Disability in the Student Veteran Community 116
Amanda Kraus and Nicholas A. Rattray

Vignette 138
Amanda Irish

7 Enrollment, Transfers, and Degree Completion for Veterans 140
John D. Mikelson and Kevin P. Saunders

Vignette 165
Jonathan Miller

8 Offices of Veterans and Military Services 167
Stephen G. Abel, Robert J. Bright, and R. M. Cooper

Vignette 198
Kathy Meyers

9 Focused Learning Environments for Student Veterans 201
Sarah Minnis, Stephanie Bondi, and Corey B. Rumann

Vignette 219
Paul F. Tschudi

10 Student Veterans Organizations and Student Self-Advocacy 221
Brian A. Hawthorne, Mark C. Bauman, and Leah Ewing Ross

Vignette 253
Joseph R. Sorge

11 Institutional Leadership on Serving Student Veterans and Service Members 255
Tom Jackson Jr., Charles J. Fey, and Leah Ewing Ross

Vignette 276
Nicholas J. Osborne

12 Promoting Organizational Change to Create a Veteran-Friendly Campus: A Case Study 278
Jan Arminio and Tomoko Kudo Grabosky

Conclusion: Looking Back, Moving Forward 301
Corey B. Rumann and Florence A. Hamrick

Glossary 307

Appendix: Military Ranks 312

Name Index 315

Subject Index 319

To the memory of Timmons Hicks Hamrick, Jr. (Radioman Second Class, U.S. Navy, 1943–1946).

To Anthony Vitale (Private First Class, U.S. Army, 1951–1953). To those who are called to serve. F.A.H.

To my father, Larry R. Rumann, and to the memory of Harland P. Topping and Cyril L. Rumann.

Thank you for your service to our country. C.B.R.

Florence A. Hamrick is a professor of educational psychology at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is coauthor with John Schuh and Nancy Evans of Foundations of Student Affairs Practice from Jossey-Bass.

Corey B. Rumann is an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.