More than 100 administrators, academic advisors and staff from post-secondary institutions across the nation attended an event hosted by the Military Family Research Institute aimed at helping student service members and veterans to transition to post-secondary education.
Leading Transformation: Changing the Landscape of Higher Education was held Nov. 1 at Purdue University’s Stewart Center. The conference was the third annual meeting of Operation Diploma, the Military Family Research Institute’s post-secondary education initiative.
Betty Moseley Brown, Ed.D., associate director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Center for Women Veterans, delivered an energetic keynote address that detailed ways the VA is creating new and stronger support services for the growing number of female veterans. As of 2008, women comprised more than 14 percent of the military. Moseley Brown, a veteran herself, served in the United States Marine Corps service from 1978 to 1992.
“What do women veterans tell us they want? They tell us they want recognition and respect. They want to find gainful employment … and they want to know that if they go to a university that there are employment options for them after they get their degrees,” Moseley Brown said.
Moseley Brown told the audience that the VA’s priorities include increasing the use of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, ending homelessness among veterans and improving women veterans’ access and use of benefits and services.
“Our Chief of Staff [John R. Gingrich] and Secretary [Eric K. Shinseki] want to make sure that we close some of those gaps in services that exist,” she said. “We are trying to enhance access. We want to connect the dots for women veterans.”
In addition to Moseley Brown’s comments, Alysa Christmas Rollock, vice president of ethics and compliance, delivered opening remarks. She praised the collaborations among those present and the work that they were doing for student service members and veterans. Participants also worked in small groups to wwwelop new ways to:
- share evidence of promising practices and demonstrated successes;
- expand initiatives beyond campus and state borders;
- explore future directions; and
- enhance available toolkits for providing comprehensive support.
Additionally, more than a dozen presentations were offered during three concurrent breakout sessions.
Operation Diploma engages and educates post-secondary education stakeholders on the issues surrounding student service members and veterans. Through this initiative, MFRI has since 2008 awarded nearly $2.4 million to colleges, universities, SVOs and others. Nearly $50,000 has been awarded directly to student veterans’ organizations.