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VETERANS’ SCHOLARS PROGRAM For the 2013-2014 Academic Year
n February 2013, President Karen Gross announced the creation of a Veterans’ Scholar Program as part of an expansion of the College’s award-winning Pipelines into Partnership Program. In this new effort, as many as 12 recent U.S. veterans will be selected by their Commanding Officers to enter SVC in Fall 2013 or Spring 2014 and each year thereafter. President Gross said, “SVC has had remarkable success with first-generation, Pell-eligible students, and we can extend our learning in this arena to our veterans to foster their collegiate success. I look forward to welcoming our first cohort of Veteran Scholars who will, I am sure, enrich our campus with their depth and breadth of experiences and their leadership capacities. It is one small way in which we can show our appreciation for their service to our nation.” The cohort model, already successfully deployed within the SVC Pipeline Program, is aimed at reducing the obstacles many new students face as they enter and progress through a four-year college. The data show that the existing SVC Mountaineer Scholars, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college, have retention rates and levels of engagement that outpace the SVC student population in general and national norms for similarly situated students. “For veterans, the cohort model mirrors the battalion and 4
SVC/SJC CHRONICLE
teamwork central to military life,” said President Gross. “Together with an intensive orientation program and the continuing mentoring and support offered by this program, we will be able to ameliorate the often difficult transition from military life to civilian life.” President Gross made the announcement during remarks at the Council of College and Military Educators (CCME) Annual Symposium in San Diego, CA. The selected Veteran Scholars will visit the SVC campus with their families at no cost, prior to beginning their studies. On a return visit to campus, they will participate in an intensive orientation program on college life offered by the College’s faculty, staff and current veteran students or recent SVC veteran graduates. “These activities create an opportunity for the Veteran Scholars to be introduced to needed academic skills, an understanding of campus culture, and the career launching opportunities at SVC that build on their military training,” President Gross said. Over the past year, President Gross has worked closely with the U.S. Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Labor while on leave from the College to serve as a Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. She was the Department of Education’s representative on the interagency task force charged with redesigning the