In honor of CCME 2025's theme "Acceleration Through Collaboration" we have compiled a list of articles that aim to help military-affiliated professionals break down silos and work across departments and teams to accelerate military-inclusive programming in higher education.

We hope you have a wonderful time at CCME 2025!

Remote Student Services: Increasing Engagement and Community

The Veteran Center at National University has worked to create a sense of belonging among the military-affiliated student population. In an increasingly digital age, the Veteran Center has tested and utilized a number of effective ways to offer remote student services and increase engagement in online learning environments. We hope learning about our strategies at National University can help your campus staff and leaders brainstorm what best suits your military-affiliated students.

How Austin Peay Restructured All Military-Affiliated Services Under One Division

Every higher education institution structures their military-affiliated services differently. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to structuring these roles and services. Some campuses are just building out their services. And like Austin Peay State University (APSU), some are reorganizing their military-affiliated services.

Collaboration Between Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and Campus Life a Must

The aspiring military officers of the ROTC program regularly engage with other students and often form life-long relationships through Greek life and other campus organizations. These interactions provide various platforms for these military-affiliated students to influence their instructors, administrators, fellow students, and the greater community, either positively or negatively.

Veterans Service Organizations, Navigating Which is Best for Your Campus

There are VSOs that are student focused, family focused, education focused, recruitment focused, career path focused, and food insecurity focused, to name just a few. Selecting which VSO to work with is an important decision and one that ultimately impacts your department/office, student veterans, and their families.

Building Peer Networks for Student Veterans

Building peer and alumni networks for student veterans can be a considerable undertaking. The life experiences and real-world education that many veterans possess can be vastly different than their traditional peers. It is important that professionals within higher education serve as advocates for these students that may not fit in as easily as traditional college students.

T.E.A.C.H.ing Student Vets through VA Work-Study

These work-study opportunities would "level the playing field" and address some of the largest barriers student veterans face within higher education today. I use the T.E.A.C.H. acronym to not only highlight the benefits of implementing these positions to support student veterans, but as a call to action for staff and faculty to play a more active role in the lives of this important student population.

Quiet Events for Student Veterans and Their Families

Do our campus events for veterans and their families need to be big and bold? Often big attendance numbers and turnout are the expectation for events. Whether that expectation is pushed down from leadership or from pressure we put on ourselves, we are all trying to find the answer that cracks the code to student veteran engagement. We are looking for the solution that gets as many students engaged and attending events as possible. The more we offer and incentivize the event, the more we promote the event, the more budget we put behind the event, the louder we are about the event, the better, right? But there is value and intention in quiet events.

Interested in more military-affiliated higher ed content? Check out our News and Advice column.

Article Topics

Job Search Advice Military Educational Benefits Military Focused Events Military Friendly Institutions Policy News Research on Student Veterans Serving Military in HigherEd Veterans Academic Success Women Veterans Working as a Veteran in HigherEd Workplace Inclusion

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