OUTCOMES and
Action Items
consortium goal
Facilitate an enhanced understanding of issues and challenges faced by student veterans, and serve as a catalyst for operable changes that enable these students to achieve elevated levels of success.
Objectives
By bringing together students, faculty and staff from Florida A&M University, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College, along with representatives of local, state and national veteran-support organizations, the Capital City Veterans Consortium will:
Identify the special considerations, challenges and opportunities facing veterans in higher education and beyond
Develop and prioritize actionable initiatives for implementation by Fall 2013 including the removal of barriers to enrollment, retention and graduation
Foster greater collaboration and means of support between FAMU, FSU and TCC, their student veterans, and area veterans organizations
Raise awareness in the local community and among its higher education institutions about the collaborative efforts to enhance support of student veterans
Outcomes and
Action Items
Make military-credit policies more accessible/understandable for student veterans.
Standardize military-credit evaluations throughout Florida. Actively promote to veterans and active-duty personnel the
higher-education opportunities Tallahassee has to offer, as well as its veteran-supportive community at large.
Develop a rubric that encourages student veterans to think holistically (i.e. before they even enroll) about their post-graduation goals.
Communicate the on-campus career and advanced degree resources available to veterans.
Cultivate student veterans’ effectiveness at “selling” themselves. Facilitate a more experiential path to post-graduation employment. Establish a central study and tutoring space (at the library or some other
location) for student veterans.
Develop faculty and staff workshops that enhance their awareness and understanding of the military in general and the challenges faced by student veterans in particular.
Codify definitions of veterans, dependents, and other categories and identify a common metric for measuring performance (retention, graduation rates, employment and graduate-school placement, etc.).
Establish a formal group/process that periodically aggregates data from TCC, FAMU and FSU using common markers of success.
Develop a secure portal that facilitates interaction between veterans at each institution regarding recruitment, retention, community engagement, academic promotion and job placement.
Make military-credit policies more accessible/ understandable for student veterans.
Although current credit-for-training information is available online, determining whether and what type of military training/experience qualifies for college credit at public institutions in Florida is currently an arduous process. Bring together relevant personnel to review and update current policy, and present credit-for-training information in a dynamic online format.
Awarding college credit for military training/experience advances the degree-completion timeline for student veterans and reduces costs. Credits for military training are maximized when student veterans can easily access information that allows for more informed decision-making. January 2014.
Veteran Support Offices
FSU and TCC Collegiate Veterans Associations, Registrar/ Admissions offices
Updated policy and an online interface similar to the military’s iPerms and MarineNet programs on each institution’s website.
College credit for military training policies exist at TCC, FAMU, and FSU.
What Why How Benefits Target Lead Supporting Goal Current Status
credit for military training
College Credit for Military Training/Experience
Standardize military-credit evaluations throughout Florida. Codifying and standardizing evaluations of the credit-for-training process provides uniformity for public higher education institutions in Florida, which affords student veterans greater flexibility in earning a degree.
Add this topic to the agenda of the June 2013 conference of the Florida Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; investigate what other states have done to standardize the college credit for military training process; explore whether other options are available, such as allowing a crosswalk between the American Council on Education and Florida’s Statewide Course Numbering System.
August 2014
FSU Student Veterans Center
Offices of undergraduate studies, Registrar/Admissions offices
A standardized statewide evaluation process is launched. As of March 2013, a statewide, standardized military credit evaluation rubric did not exist.
What Why How Target Lead Supporting Goal Current Status
credit for military training
standardization of military-credit evaluations
Veterans Recruitment
Raise awareness of the higher-education
options in Tallahassee
Actively promote to veterans and active-duty personnel the higher-education opportunities Tallahassee has to offer, as well as its veteran-supportive community at large.
With more than 50,000 active-duty personnel serving on military installations within a three-hour drive of Tallahassee, the recruitment potential for the city’s higher education institutions is enormous.
Establish a Tallahassee higher education promotions team that meets regularly to develop marketing strategies and take the lead in the execution of these strategies
Tallahassee’s higher-education institutions are enriched by the leadership and decision-making skills student veterans bring to their campuses and communities.
Fall 2013
FSU, FAMU, and TCC communications personnel FSU Student Veterans Center, FSU and TCC Collegiate Veterans Associations
Launch of collaboratively produced recruitment materials including a website and combined social media presence, as well as print materials
Individual institutions currently conduct veteran recruitment. What Why how benefits Target Lead Supporting Goal Current Status
pathways to academic and
professional careers
post-graduation career/academic program
Develop a rubric that encourages student veterans to think holistically (i.e. before they even enroll) about their post-graduation goals. Communicate the career and advanced degree resources available on each campus; cultivate student veterans’ effectiveness at “selling” themselves; and facilitate a more experiential path to employment.
Through their military service, veterans have been schooled in the importance of identifying a mission goal prior to its execution, making the concept one student veterans can especially embrace.
Evaluate and expand on the “Colors of Success” post-graduation career/academic program – so it includes all relevant education events, job fairs, workshops, etc., and tracks student-success rates – to make it appropriate for shared use by TCC, FAMU and FSU. In addition, enhance the working relationship between the Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE) with each institution’s career center.
Increased numbers of student veterans securing jobs in their fields of study or acceptance to their first-choice, advanced-degree program.
Fall 2013
Career services offices
Veterans affairs offices and student-veteran organizations. Within a year after implementation, student veterans show an increase of ten percent or more in securing jobs in their fields of study within three months after graduating or acceptance to their first-choice, advanced-degree program. Codified, operational veteran career/academic promotion programs do not exist as of March 2013.
What Why how benefits target lead supporting goal current status
transition and retention
study space for veterans
Establish a central study and tutoring space (at the library or some other location) for student veterans at each institution.
A common area for academic work would allow for greater collaboration between veterans and better opportunities to assist one another.
Engage facilities managers to identify and acquire a central study/tutoring space at each institution.
A place devoted to veterans’ academic endeavors will promote a greater sense of team/family, increase these students’ retention and graduation rates, and provide exiting military members with another benefit to attending college in Tallahassee.
Fall 2013
College Veterans Associations at each school.
FSU Student Veterans Center; senior administrators at FSU, TCC and FAMU
An established study/tutoring space for student veterans at each institution
Efforts towards acquiring these spaces are a different levels of coordination at each institution.
What Why how benefits target lead supporting goal current status
Develop faculty and staff workshops that enhance their awareness and understanding of the military in general and the challenges faced by student veterans in particular. For the most part, faculty and staff have a rather limited understanding of the armed services, military life, and the student-veteran experience.
Bring together ROTC students/instructors, veteran affairs personnel and student veterans at each institution to develop content for these workshops. Present initial versions of the workshops for assessment to personnel already interacting regularly with student veterans (advisors, liaisons, etc.). (FSU’s “Boots to Books” program, which was first presented to the Student Affairs staffers on April 17, 2013, and Advising First’s “Nole Calls” for first-semester veterans might serve as models for these workshops.) Cultivates knowledge and empathy; creates more veteran-friendly and empowering environments; enhances veteran enrollment, retention and graduation rates.
Fall 2013
Veterans affairs personnel; student veterans; ROTC FSU, TCC, FAMU administrators
Workshops for faculty and staff are conducted at new faculty and staff orientation and twice each semester to groups outside this orientation.
The first formal staff workshop occurred on 17 April 2013 at the FSU Student Affairs Central Staff Meeting
What Why how benefits target lead supporting goal current status
transition and retention
Military/Student Veteran Workshops for
Faculty and Staff
Codify definitions of veterans, dependents, and other categories and identify a common metric for measuring performance (retention, graduation rates, employment and graduate-school placement, etc.). Refer to the National Database Student Clearinghouse and Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS2) for guidance.
To facilitate continuous improvement towards increased enrollment, retention, graduation, job placement or academic advancement and resulting in Tallahassee becoming the destination of choice for veterans and their families pursuing higher education.
Begin by formalizing methods of communications between key staff at each institution and the Board of Governors (i.e., work teams, listserv, liaisons/primary contacts), then initiate process with a thorough needs assessment.
Increased graduation and placement rates for Tallahassee’s student veterans, increase in Tallahassee veteran and dependent’s population, efficiency of recruiting and transfer from TCC to FSU and FAMU.
January 2014
FSU, FAMU and TCC web/data services offices Veterans support offices
A (data) defined veteran cohort at each institution with common definitions for the population is in place where veteran information is gathered, stored, and transferred. TCC will share information about student cohorts preparing for graduation to facilitate targeted recruitment. (NOTE: Success of veteran cohorts will be the same as the standard measures used for other student cohorts within each institution, i.e., retention, graduation, employment, and transition to advanced-degree programs.)
Some information is shared between institutions and is publicly available. There is not a defined veteran cohort at each institution. What Why how benefits target lead supporting goal current status
Information & data access
and reporting
Establish a formal group/process that periodically aggregates data from TCC, FAMU and FSU using common markers of success.
To facilitate continuous improvement towards higher enrollment, retention, graduation, job placement or academic advancement resulting in Tallahassee becoming the destination of choice for veterans and their families pursuing higher education.
Push for a Pilot Program to increase opportunities for communication and resolution of issues in order enhance coordinated effort. A first step will be to conduct a thorough needs assessment.
The Veteran Data Management Program will produce accurate data on this important subset of students that will enhance their overall higher education experience in Tallahassee, improve their retention/graduation, and provide reportable data to share on veteran successes.
January 2014
FSU, FAMU and TCC web/data services offices Veterans support offices.
A formal method of communication is established between key staff at TCC, FAMU, FSU, and the BOG (work teams, listserv, identified liaisons/primary contact)
Some information is shared between institutions and is publicly available. What Why how benefits target lead supporting goal current status
Information & data access
and reporting
Develop a secure portal that facilitates interaction between veterans at each institution regarding recruitment, retention, community engagement, academic promotion and job placement.
To facilitate continuous improvement towards higher enrollment, retention, graduation, job placement or academic promotion resulting in Tallahassee becoming the destination of choice for veterans and their families pursuing higher education.
Create a secure portal for student veterans accessible with student ID and password. Allow non-student access to insecure areas, list services, and job postings.
Students at TCC, FAMU, and FSU would be able to easily communicate with each other about areas of interest strengthening the Tallahassee student veteran cohort and encouraging them to be an active member of the cohort. January 2014
FSU, FAMU and TCC web/data services offices Veterans support offices
A secure student veteran portal exists.
A secure portal of this type did not exist on 22 Mar 2013.
What Why How Benefits target lead supporting goal current status
Information, data access,
and reporting
EVENT SYNOPSIS
On March 22, 2013, at the Turnbull Conference Center, Florida State University, Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University and Tallahassee Community College hosted the inaugural Capital City Veteran Consortium. Prompted by the recent growth in veteran enrollment and involvement at FSU, FAMU, and TCC, these institutions came together to address the particular challenges student veterans face and collaborate on methods to becoming more veteran-friendly, on each campus and in the community at large.
The event provided a forum for administrators, faculty, staff and students – including some from institutions outside Florida – along with representatives of local, state and national veteran-support organizations, to discuss actionable initiatives that could be implemented to provide assistance, resources and courses of action for student veterans in six specific topic areas.
Participants were divided into separate groups to discuss and develop prioritized action plans in their respective areas of focus: Credit for Military Training, led by Dr. Sara Hamon (FSU); Veterans Recruitment, led by Steve Owens (TCC); Pathways to Academic and Professional Careers, led by Jarod Lyon (EBV National Program Manager); Transition and Retention, led by Phil Lennon (University of Maryland); Forecasting and Reporting, led by Dr. Adam Goldstein (FSU); and Reintegrating Veterans into Civilian Life, led by Dean Nancy Marcus and the Florida State University Graduate Fellows Society. At 8:00 a.m., participants began arriving and first gathered in a large
conference room. The presentation of colors by the Florida State University Air Force ROTC initiated the day’s events, followed by the national anthem, and a video welcome by Tallahassee Community College President Jim Murdaugh. Retired Col. Mike Prendergast, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs then urged the attendees to conduct a frank and productive day of brainstorming to reach practical goals. Participants then divided into separate dialogue sessions, based on their areas of interest or experience, and went to work.
In the Credit for Military Training session, strategies for providing college credit to veterans for their military training and experience were discussed. The Veterans Recruitment group discussed methods for effectively reaching and influencing exiting military personnel toward obtaining a college degree in Tallahassee. The Pathways to Academic and Professional Careers dialogue session explored resourceful means to assist student veterans in attaining post-graduation employment or graduate-school admission. The Transition
and Retention group reviewed current institutional policies and activities, and considered additional methods for easing student veterans’ transition from military to college life, and enhancing their campus participation. The Forecasting and Reporting session focused on available student-veteran data, information required by reporting agencies, and means of effective collaboration to produce mutually beneficial reports. The Graduate Fellows Society, meanwhile, heard from professionals, researchers and other experts in several disciplines on particular challenges associated with transition from active military duty to daily civilian life.
Outcomes and action items originating from these two-hour dialogue sessions are summarized and detailed on the pages above.
Following the dialogue sessions, consortium attendees gathered for lunch, during which a representative from each session presented an outline of their group’s action items. The luncheon was also included comments by FAMU Interim President Larry Robinson and FSU President Eric Barron, both of whom emphasized the value student veterans bring to their respective institutions, and pledged ongoing support to efforts at increasing veteran enrollment and successes.
After lunch, the Director of Development for the national Student Veterans of America, Matthew Feger, moderated a panel discussion of student veterans. Two student veterans from FAMU, FSU and TCC spoke candidly about the personal experiences and challenges they encountered on their respective campuses, and what their institutions might do to enhance the student-veteran experience. An exhibitor hall with more than 30 veteran-focused organizations was then opened to conference attendees, as well as the general public.
Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center
555 West Pensacola Street | Tallahassee, FL 32306-1640
tlhvetconsortium.com
