Austin Peay State University to begin new Center for the Study of Military Life

Clarksville, TN – The College of Behavioral and Health Sciences at Austin Peay State University announce the creation of the Center for the Study of Military Life.

The purpose of this center is to support research activities that seek to develop a more in-depth understanding of all aspects of military life as they impact individual service members, military families and communities and nation.

APSU is positioned to sponsor such a center. The University has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. Army through the military installation at Fort Campbell, KY.

“We are the single largest provider of educational services on post, and many of our employees are retired military,” said Dr. David Denton, dean of the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences.

 

An event to announce the creation of the Center for the Study of Military Life at APSU will be held at 10:30am, Thursday, February 9th in the Morgan University Center Ballroom. The event is open to the public.

Dr. Tucker Brown, assistant professor of sociology who also serves as coordinator of the new center, said the focus of the Center for the Study of Military Life is research.

“We are now planning a Spring 2013 conference and soon will be issuing a call for papers for a new journal we will be launching,” Brown said.

The February 9th announcement will feature keynote speaker Dr. Morten Ender, a well-known military researcher in the field of military sociology. Ender is professor of sociology and the sociology program director at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY.

A primary area of research interest for Ender focuses on the social psychology of soldiers, military spouses, cadets, military children and Iraqi adults and adolescents. His work has appeared in The American Sociologist, Sociological Focus, Teaching Sociology, Journal of Adolescence, Journal of Political and Military Sociology, and Armed Forces & Society.

Ender also is the lead principal investigator on the Bi-annual Attitudes Survey of Students (BASS)—a database of attitudinal data of military academy cadets, ROTC cadets and civilian college students.

He is the author of several books, including “Military Brats and Other Global Nomads: Growing Up in Organization Families” (Praeger, 2002) and “American Soldiers in Iraq: McSoldiers or Innovative Professionals?” (Routledge, 2009).

The Center for the Study of Military Life will be housed academically in the APSU Department of Sociology.

For more information, contact Brown by email at brownt@apsu.edu or by telephone at 931.221.7725.