Synopses & Reviews
It's estimated that, in the coming decade, as many as 2 million students with military experience will take advantage of their education benefits and attend institutions in all sectors of higher education. This monograph provides useful information about students with military experience who attending college by blending the theoretical, practical and empirical.
The authors assemble some of the best-known theories and research in the literature of the field to provide starting points from which to investigate the phenomenon of today's veteran attending college. Other frameworks and theories, particularly from the literature on college student development, from recognizable names such as Baxter Magolda, Braxton, Chickering, Schlossberg, and Tinto, are used--sometimes directly in their own words. New issues to our generation, such as the unique subpopulation of women veterans and the challenges they face, are explored.
This volume equips higher education professional with a fundamental understanding of the issues faced by the student veteran population and aims to enable them in their roles of providing sorely needed assistance in the transition to college, persistence at the institution, and degree attainment.
This is the third issue in the 37th volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph in the series is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.
Synopsis
STUDENTS WITH MILITARY EXPERIENCE are choosing to pursue postsecondary education in numbers not seen since World War II. An estimated 2 million men and women, many having served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are now or will be pursuing degrees from all educational sectors: public and private, two- and four-year, online and brick and mortar. Are administrators, staff and faculty at institutions of higher learning ready to receive this emerging population of students, many of whom face unique challenges associated with wartime servce? Transition from military duty to civilian life and college can be difficult and in some instances is exacerbated by physical or psychological injuries. This volume seeks to understand those difficulties by applying developmental and college effect theories to better interpret the contemporary phenomenon of student veterans. The purpose of this volume is to integrate student development theory in planning programs and services for student veterans, many of whom have rusty academic skills and poor study habits and are unfamiliar with the requirements for success in the civilian workforce after graduation. With the help of institutional support and services, however, many student veterans have the potential for academic excellence as a result of their mission-oriented dedication and the work ethic they learned while serving in the military.
David DiRamio, a U.S. Navy vateran, is associate professor of higher education administration at Auburn University.
Kathyrn Jarvis is director of academic support at Auburn University. She has served as an administrator and faculty member in higher education for more than thirty years.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ixForeword xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Old Friends and New Faces 1
Home Alone? Applying Theories of Transition to Support Student Veterans' Success 7
A Model for Supporting Student Veterans’ Transition 11
Conclusion 17
Commentary from Nancy K. Schlossberg 18
What Matters to Veterans? Peer Influences and the Campus Environment 21
The Military Bond 21
Inputs, Environment, and Outcomes 22
Inputs, Environment, and Outcomes for Veterans 25
Peer Group Supports and Influences 27
Summary and Recommendations 29
Commentary from Alexander W. Astin 32
Transition 2.0: Using Tinto's Model to Understand Student Veterans' Persistence 35
Transition and Preentry Attributes 36
Goals and Commitments 40
Initial Institutional Experiences 41
Transition 2.0: Academic and Social Integration 44
Transition 2.0: Academic and Social Integration with the Campus Community 46
Career Services and the Student Veteran 47
New Goals and Intent to Persist 48
Critics of Academic and Social Integration 48
Conclusion 50
Commentary from John M. Braxton 51
Crisis of Identity? Veteran, Civilian, Student 53
Identity Development and Knowledge of Self 54
Self and Others 55
Multiple Roles and Intersecting Identities 56
Crisis, Exploration, and Commitment 59
Multiple Dimensions of Identity 59
Typologies 61
Conclusion 65
Commentary from Linda Reisser 66
Women Warriors: Supporting Female Student Veterans 69
Enduring Effects of Male Turf: Gender and Assumptions 72
Mothers and Warriors: Care and Justice 73
Into a College Environment: Developing a Voice 75
Help Seeking: Learning to Cope 77
Marching Together: Summary 78
Commentary from Margaret Baechtold 79
Ideas for a Self-Authorship Curriculum for Students with Military Experience 81
Classes for Veterans 84
Meaning Making and Self-Authorship 86
Concept Mapping for Curriculum Planning 86
Conclusion 90
Commentary from Marcia B. Baxter Magolda 91
Institutional Response to an Emerging Population of Veterans 95
EFA Factor One—Financial Matters 101
EFA Factor Two—Administrative and Strategic Planning 105
EFA Factor Three—Advising and Career Services 106
EFA Factor Four—Psychological Counseling Services 107
EFA Factor Five—Veterans Office on Campus 111
Conclusion 112
Concluding Thoughts 113
Appendix A: A Veteran's Essay 117
Appendix B: Example Syllabus 119
References 121
Name Index 135
Subject Index 139
About the Authors 143