{"id":27989,"date":"2019-10-17T18:00:05","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T23:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=27989"},"modified":"2019-10-17T17:27:31","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T22:27:31","slug":"apsu-hosts-veterans-reconnect-conference-for-states-higher-ed-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/10\/17\/apsu-hosts-veterans-reconnect-conference-for-states-higher-ed-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU hosts Veterans Reconnect Conference for state\u2019s higher ed leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> –  Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) executive director of the Mike Krause was speaking to a college administrator recently about how to serve veterans on college campuses and sensed tentativeness.<\/p>\n

\"Retired<\/a>

Retired Brig. Gen. Scott E. Brower, Austin Peay State University military advisor in residence, moderates a panel. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was immediately evident that this leader didn\u2019t understand the veteran experience and how best to serve them,\u201d Krause said. \u201cMoving past these barriers requires a conversation that bridges the gaps across the civil-military divide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engaging student-veteran stakeholders in a conversation about how best to serve this population and how to remove barriers to increase their success on Tennessee college campuses was the central focus of a recent two-day conference, \u201cBridging the Gaps: Tennessee Institutions Leading the Change for Military\/Veteran Transition,\u201d held at Austin Peay State University (APSU).     <\/p>\n

\u201cThis conference is one way to create a frame of reference for those serving student veterans to understand their perspective,\u201d Krause said later. \u201cWe also want to build a forum for those who aren\u2019t veterans to welcome them into this space. Having served in the military is not a prerequisite to be focused on student veteran success.\u201d<\/p>\n

A strategy for veteran students<\/h3>\n
\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University President Alisa White meets Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Gary Beikirch. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

Since 2015, THEC\u2019s Veteran Reconnect grants have funded services and resources for student veterans across the state, including initiatives that award credit hours for some prior military experience and training programs that teach faculty and staff about the specific needs and challenges of military students. For Krause, these efforts are part of Tennessee\u2019s goal to \u201cbe the best state in America for veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really have a strategy for veterans in higher education in Tennessee until five or six years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t aiming at much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the goal is to get more veterans into higher education programs, but Krause didn\u2019t want to use the easy, moral argument that these individuals, because of their service, should be a priority for the state\u2019s colleges and community colleges.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cI think you should serve them, but I can also make the data argument,\u201d he said. \u201cThe data argument, in Tennessee, is you\u2019re going to get paid as a public institution based only on those who succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

An analysis of veteran students showed they succeed at higher rates in college than their peers. The veteran students performed better than Tennessee HOPE scholarship recipients, who are considered the brightest among the state\u2019s college students.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a public institution, it\u2019s a no brainer,\u201d Krause said. \u201cIf you want veterans, there\u2019s going to be a benefit in the outcomes-based funding formula.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2010, Tennessee moved to an outcomes-based funding formula, shifting the focus from financially rewarding colleges for the number of students they enroll to funding institutions for actually awarding degrees and certificates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have is a disconnect in intent versus execution, and this conference is part of solving that,\u201d Krause said.                    <\/p>\n

An Intentional Effort<\/h3>\n
\"Congressional<\/a>

Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Bennie Adkins meets attendees. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

Austin Peay State University pooled its military resources to develop a meaningful event that provided educational leaders \u2013 including several college and community college presidents \u2013 with the resources and training they need for supporting military-affiliated students on their campuses.<\/p>\n

Austin Peay State University was also the ideal location for the conference because the Clarksville university is the state\u2019s largest provider of higher education to military-affiliated students, with at least 2,659 enrolled students having a military connection in the fall of 2018.<\/p>\n

[320right]For this special conference, the University brought in several high-profile speakers, including Brig. Gen. Cindy Jebb, dean of academics at the United States Military Academy; Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Osborne, garrison command sergeant major for Fort Campbell; and Eric Burleson, author and U.S. Army Special Forces veteran.<\/p>\n

On Monday evening, Austin Peay State University also hosted two special guests \u2013 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients Gary Beikirch and Bennie Adkins. Attendees were able to spend time and talk with the two men.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Veterans Reconnect initiative is an intentional effort by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and the state to say we\u2019re going to do better to serve military-affiliated students,\u201d Dr. Alisa White, APSU president, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be better than everybody else, and I really believe your being here means that you are saying, intentionally, we are going to make a difference in our communities, in our universities and in our colleges. This is going to be different for the entire state,\u201d stated White.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN –  Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) executive director of the Mike Krause was speaking to a college administrator recently about how to serve veterans on college campuses and sensed tentativeness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[22711,23,11642,262,512,825,150,34219,24756,1758,1386,34218,8650,30679,1547],"class_list":["post-27989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-alisa-white","tag-apsu","tag-apsu-president","tag-austin-peay-state-university","tag-clarksville","tag-clarksville-tn","tag-fort-campbell","tag-jason-osborne","tag-mike-krause","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-higher-education-commission","tag-tennessee-hope-scholarships","tag-thec","tag-veteran-reconnect-grant","tag-veterans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-7hr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27991,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27989\/revisions\/27991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}