![\"VETS](\"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/VETS-Emblem-Sticker.jpg\")
<\/a>Instead, most of the more than 700 military veterans who attend UCCS look like most other students. But inside they can be very different, according to Phillip Morris, director, Veteran and Military Student Affairs.<\/p>\nMorris recently received a $5,000 grant from USAA to begin helping faculty and staff better understand the challenges that military-associated students face as they transition to civilian and student life. Throughout the fall semester, he hopes to create what he calls a \u201cculture of understanding\u201d that will help active duty military and veterans succeed in a college environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis training would not be possible without the support of USAA,\u201d Morris said. \u201cWe had the privilege to work with Kent Fortune to develop and propose the idea of helping faculty understand the role they have in helping transition and assist veteran students. He was very supportive and helped approve the funding of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortune, vice president and general manager of USAA\u2019s Colorado Springs branch, is a 1989 UCCS alum.<\/p>\n
Morris cited a Time<\/em> magazine article about the difficulty of Iraq War veterans returning home as his inspiration to revisit issues of a military friendly campus culture.<\/p>\n \u201cReturning from service successfully must really be thought of a second mission for many of our students,\u201d Morris, himself an Army veteran, said.<\/p>\n Morris hopes to aid faculty and staff members in two general areas. First, he hopes to inform about the services that his office can provide. Those services range from guiding students through a maze of government benefits to connecting them to community resources, internships, and scholarships specifically available to veterans.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are 800,000 veterans across the nation who are accessing VA education benefits,\u201d Morris said. \u201cWith that many people, the process doesn\u2019t always operate as smoothly or as quickly as we sometimes we would like. Our office is here to help people with that process and to help them have appropriate expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n Secondly, Morris hopes to provide information about how faculty and staff can recognize emerging issues and reduce problems. For severe cases where a student might be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Morris can provide direct counsel. But Morris believes it possible to improve student success by taking small steps.<\/p>\n Awareness is also a key to student success. As an example, Morris said approximately 300 of the military veterans at UCCS are women. That statistic may surprise older faculty members or those who hail from cultures where women are not allowed to serve in the military. Female veterans often face different challenges than their male counterparts.<\/p>\n The grant from USAA will help pay for materials used in the classes as well as the salaries of two student employees. The students, both of whom are veterans, will share their experiences from their military service and in the classroom. But Morris is quick to point out that the curriculum is fluid. He hopes to hear from UCCS faculty and staff and to adjust sessions accordingly.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of faculty on this campus who have been teaching and working with military veterans for a long time,\u201d Morris said. \u201cI want to capture that experience and use it to help others. These are two-way sessions. I expect to learn a lot from those people who invite us into their departments.\u201d<\/p>\n For more details, or to sign up for the next session on November 8, please visit http:\/\/www.uccs.edu\/military\/vets-faculty-and-staff-training.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/a>\u201cI\u2019m hoping faculty will ask themselves — or the student directly — \u2018is this clear enough?\u2019 when distributing a class syllabus for example,\u201d Morris said. \u201cFor someone who is moving from an environment of direct orders on a nearly constant basis to broad parameters and deadlines that are weeks ahead, there are a lot of opportunities for the student to fall through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n