NSU is one of three South Florida schools to receive a $25,000 grant from the Veterans Trust, grant-making foundation that maximizes the collaboration of existing veteran service organizations.
After working with veterans at NSU and Florida Atlantic University, Veterans Trust Executive Director Fred Roger joined Veterans Trust. The organization originally wanted to fund only Broward College. He realized that one school was not enough and he needed to fund additional schools so they can communicate with each other, create a communication model for other counties to replicate and help veterans. This led to the decision to fund one state college, one local college and one nonprofit college: FAU, BC and NSU.
Roger spoke with NSU leadership about this plan and they were open to working with the other schools. These leaders included Chancellor Ray Ferrero Jr. and Dean of the Institute for the Study of Human Service, Health and Justice Kimberley Durham and Senior Associate Dean of Operations and Student Services at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences Susanne Marshall.
“This is going to impact the lives of current veterans and generations to come,” Roger said. “That’s the importance of this initiative.”
Durham said Veterans Trust will serve as a conduit for representatives from each university to meet and gather ideas for supporting veterans.
“We were selected by Veterans Trust because it was established here to take a look at some of the gaps that were occurring in the academic educational environment for veterans because they place a very high importance on educational benefits for veterans that are returning,” Durham said.
Durham said the money will first go to enhancing NSU’s veteran resource center, located in the Rosenthal Student Center, where Durham said veterans can feel comradery with other veterans and get to know each other.
Though the NSU’s resource center has compiled useful information on services for NSU’s veterans, there is still a need for someone who will coordinate those services. Durham hopes that location of the resource center will one day be indicated by NSU’s blue directional signs.
“Eventually, we would like to hire a director that is a veteran and some graduate assistants that would be there for support but who are probably also veterans,” Durham said. “When somebody walks in, we want somebody there to greet them, who says, ‘How can I help you?’ and that services in a really proactive high-end customer service way to say, ‘Let me try to connect you with those services.’”
Roger said some veterans need this kind of support when they return from serving in the military.
“Those who need that support need to come into a system that embraces them and says, ‘We got your back. We’re going to help you transition. What is it that you need?’”
The Veterans Trust will work closely with NSU helping to assess what the university would like to do and what it needs.
“Statistics are showing that we have a very large number of veterans returning to Florida and California,” Durham said. “As they return to Florida where we have great universities in South Florida, we want to make sure that if they choose NSU, they’re choosing the most vet-friendly and proactive place. We want to make sure their experience is very worthwhile, that they’re stable, that they have a good education, and that they go back into the workforce feeling like they’ve accomplished something.”
Photo Credit: COURTESY OF F. ROGER
