Newswise — Making the transition from military to academic life can be a daunting task, but at The George Washington University, student veterans now have a new resource " the University's newly created veteran services coordinator. The position in GW's Division on Student and Academic Support Services will assist veterans in navigating GW's financial and student services. GW also confirms that it will support current and prospective student veterans by participating in the national "Yellow Ribbon" Program.
Megan Keller will serve as GW's veteran services coordinator to help raise awareness among GW's administrative departments of student veteran issues and serve as a liaison to student veterans. Keller is a graduate student in GW's museum studies program and comes to the position with customer service experience from The Walt Disney Company and curriculum development skills from an English language teaching program in Indonesia.
"Megan and the related outreach and research initiatives for veteran services are intended to support a GW student population who have served our country so faithfully and with such courage," said Robert Chernak, senior vice president for student and academic support services. "We are working together across departments to enhance our services for veterans and also to prepare for the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill." Dr. Chernak is a Vietnam era veteran who received his Master's degree as a result of the GI Bill. Without the GI Bill, Chernak says, he wouldn't have been able to finance that degree. He believes that higher education institutions have an obligation to assist veterans who have served our country.
With the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 going into effect on August 1, 2009, GW reaffirms its commitment to supporting student veterans and has many connections to the history of the GI Bill. The first recipient of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (aka, G.I. Bill of Rights) was a GW student, Donald A. Balfour, B.A. '45. Today, GW estimates more than 300 veterans attend the University either as full-time students or as enrollees in online or part-time programs. GW will continue this rich legacy of educating our nation's veterans as we approach the implementation of the next GI Bill. Tammy Duckworth, M.A. '92, also was nominated this month by President Barack Obama to serve as an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Keller and the GW administration also will continue to monitor the regulations supporting the new GI Bill that provides federal grants for military personnel and recent veterans to attend college and university more affordably. The law also includes a provision, known as the "yellow ribbon program," wherein the federal government will match, dollar for dollar, any financial aid that private colleges provide to veterans above the cost of the most-expensive public institution in that college's state. GW will participate in the "yellow ribbon program." With the Veterans Affairs regulations governing the program expected to be issued this spring, details on the program will be forthcoming.
Don Lehman Ph.D. '70, executive vice president for academic affairs, said, "The Yellow Ribbon Program serves as another way that GW is able to reaffirm our daily commitment to the men and women who have served our country in such a high capacity. The creation of the veteran services coordinator will allow the University to expand our leadership, research, and administrative support and be actively engaged is this national program." Lehman initially came to GW in 1965 as a graduate student in physics, while simultaneously serving in the United States Air Force as a program officer for high-energy particle physics at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Keller will convene quarterly veteran services working groups, bolster communications with GW veterans, research student veteran service practices at other institutions, and make referrals to GW agencies for veterans' counseling and personal needs.
"The creation of this position proves that veteran issues are very important in the eyes of the University," said Brian Hawthorne, a junior at GW's Elliott School of International Affairs and a U.S. Army Reserve staff sergeant. "Keller will be able to act as an advocate for the student veteran population in her new role and will help GW veterans achieve every aspect of success in their studies and life at the University." Hawthorne also is a founder of GW Veterans and D.C. director of Student Veterans of America.
For more information on GW's Student Veteran Services contact Megan Keller at (202) 994-9570 or [email protected].
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