Veterans

Veterans

The Veterans Knowledge Community is the national leader in supporting the generation and dissemination of knowledge in support of the college success of student veterans.  Practitioners and scholars alike will find an engaging home among this caring group of professionals and scholars.  Please consider joining in our leadership team within your region or at the national level through Volunteer Central.

Message from the Chairs

The Veterans Knowledge Community (VKC) is an important resource for higher education professionals serving student veterans and military-connected students. The VKC places students at the center of our work by providing resources and programming that address the holistic needs of the students. We are guided by integrity, innovation, inclusion, and inquiry, and view the VKC as an opportunity to engage a diverse array of individuals who serve the military-connected population in higher education.

The VKC is a place to engage student affairs professionals who work with the military-connected population through sharing resources and research. As an organization that connects higher education professionals, the VKC offers programming and professional development experiences for its membership through opportunties such as the annual Symposium on Military-Connected Students. If you are a newcomer to the field or a seasoned professional, the VKC can assist you in connecting and learning from colleagues.

There are numerous ways to engage with the VKC: stay up-to-date by receiving our communications, attend our annual Symposium on Military-Connected Students, connect with us on social media, or join our LinkedIn group and take an active role in the conversations and resource-sharing. Want to be even more involved? Reach out to us about joining the VKC Advisory Board and view our open positions on NASPA’s Volunteer Central website. Welcome to our community!

About

Purpose

The NASPA Veterans Knowledge Community shares best practices and knowlege about supporting the success of student veterans in higher education.

Vision

The NASPA VKC is the nation's leading knowledge sharing and generating professional organization and serves as a central gathering place for the intersection of policy, programs, research, scholarship, andbest practices for the success of student veterans in all higher education contexts.

Mission

The Veterans Knowledge Community will advance veterans best practices through the education and involvement of VKC members and NASPA members in general.

Commitment

NASPA's VKC is committed to supporting and sharing quality resaerch and best practices that support the success of student veterans in higher education.  Veterans seek to ease their transition from military to civilian society by earning a college degree.  To that end, veteran success in college is measured by successful entry into the workplace and not simply effective entry to a college campus.  

VKC Recurring Initiatives

The NASPA VKC will share knowledge in various ways.  

1.  Through a dynamic blog discussion on current events or issues relevant to our members as they endeavor to serve veterans on our campuses.

2.  Through a series of white papers that delve into various issues that require a more expert perpsective that might be found in the news media.

3.  Semi-annual newsletter starting in the summer 2016 that will summarize recent postings on the NASPA webite and highlight NASPA VKC initiatives around the country.

4.  A Veteran Webinar Series that will feature each of NASPA's regions once each year and engage participants in current and meaningful dialogue about issues realted to student veteran success.

5.  The NASPA Veteran Symposium.  In 2015 NASPA conducted the first national-level student veteran symposium, which was an extension of the highly successful Louisville Veteran Symposium. This annual event occurs in February.

6.  The NASPA National Conference.  This is perhaps the most improtant event to get knowledge out to NASPA members that attend only one event each year.  

VKC History

A summary of our history can be found here.

Complete Your Profile

Login and update your profile.

Submit Info

Resources

Standards & Competencies

American Council on Education (ACE)

Resources for Educators
Campus Programs and Support
PTSD and TBI Resources
Veterans Groups
Women Veterans

 

Student Veterans and Suicide
  • What you need to know is that veterans are not committing suicide at rates significantly different than the rest of the college going population.  The stark reality of veterans in the general population committing suicide is tragic, but unverified.  Still, the population that comprises the "roughly 21 veterans who commit suicide every day" are middle-aged Korean War and Vietnam War veterans.  Essentially not our student veterans (Vacchi, 2015)

 

Support for Student Veterans
Government Benefits and Programs

Resources

Events

One of the best resources available to you is the wide range of professional development opportunities. This list contains both our “Hosted Events,” workshops and webinars that we plan and manage, and some “Related Events,” hosted by the NASPA Central Office or other NASPA Constituent Groups. To see a full listing of NASPA events, please see the Events page.

 

Roster

Knowledge Community leaders are NASPA volunteers who have generously devoted their time to their Knowledge Community. Chairs are elected by the Knowledge Community members while Regional representatives are selected from within the Region. Additional roles are selected by the Knowledge Community.

For open positions, please refer to our Get Involved page.

Newsletter

The Veterans KC regularly publishes a newsletter examining the leading issues facing veterans in student affairs, an update on what we're doing, and other news that would be relevant to our members.

Fall 2017 Newsletter

Winter 2017 Newsletter

June 2016 Newsletter

Winter 2016 VKC Newsletter

Fall 2015 VKC Newsletter 

To view an archive of past newsletters, please click here.

Also, the Veterans KC is currently accepting content that highlights the following: 

  • Resource corner/column (links, conferences, veteran-affiliated services, etc)
  • Highlighted Hot Topics in the world of Veteran (research)
  • Health & wellness topics (awareness, prevention and treatment topics including alternative treatments)  
  • Contribution Corner (new publications or articles)
  • Newsworthy happenings at various  institutions that benefit student veterans
  • Programs & Best Practices (brief description submitted by our VKC members of what's worked on their campus)
  • Veteran Culture – “Did you know?” – to acquaint non-veterans with military culture
  • Efforts of other partner organizations

Please click here to email content and/or submit ideas for publication. Thank you!

Awards

Get Involved

Get Involved with the Veterans KC

VKC Supra Et Ultra Award Nomination –  2017 nominations are due November 15th 

Each year the VKC will except nominations for the VKC Supra Et Ultra Award. The award is conferred each February during the NASPA Symposium on Military-Connected Students. For questions about the award or the award process, you can email Supra Et Ultra Liaison, [email protected]. The 2017 form can be found here for your reference.

If you have any additional question about getting involved with the VKC, email our Chair, Lauren Runco!