This fall, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s student veteran population will have a home base to support them with all aspects of university life.
UNL’s new Student Veterans Resource Center will be located in the Nebraska Union and will be aimed at supporting student veterans’ transition to academic life and provide services related to them.
Viewed as an extension of the university’s First-Year Experience and Transition Programs, the center will provide academic and transition coaching, peer mentors and empowers and supports all students in and out of the classroom.
In fall 2014, UNL had more than 500 veterans or dependents enrolled who received Montgomery GI or Post-9/11 educational benefits and is beginning to closely track additional military and student veterans. The students often have unique requirements compared with more traditional students, said Michelle Waite, assistant to the chancellor for community relations.
“UNL takes our approach to service members and veterans very seriously,” Waite said. “We realize that our veteran students enrich our campuses by providing a very different perspective, based on their military experience – even though many student veterans may be the same age as other college students.”
Darrell D. Everhart, a retired U.S. Navy captain, an academic success coach at UNL and the adviser for the university’s Veteran Student Organization, will be the center’s founding director.
Having one central point for student veterans is beneficial not only for student veterans and military service members, but also to the university, officials said. The center will promote community recognition, greater integration and success on campus, and increased graduation and retention rates.
The center will assist military, veterans and their dependents with a number of services including academic support; recruiting and admissions counseling; mentoring and orientation; career placement; and providing a location for student veterans and military service members to communicate and network with one another.
“The needs of today’s student veterans members are more complex than ever before and the addition of a Veterans Resource Center will serve as a tangible example of our commitment to our students, our faculty and staff,” Chancellor Harvey Perlman said.
