| Description |
This project represents a snapshot of the Westminster College community's journey increasing Veteran integration on campus. These initial efforts have already visually improved the education of several Veterans and enriched the fabric of the community. My support of our journey first asked how military service impacted the Veteran's relationships with the collegiate teaching community and learning content. I teamed with advocates and Veterans to ask how the community could positively impact those relationships. The project integrated Veterans and advocates in an ongoing effort to place research in motion. Semi-structured interviews with Veterans, meetings with Veteran advocacy groups, and individual discussions with faculty were filtered through a developed nested learning spectrum. The nested spectrum separated the unseen learning elements; spirituality, bodily subsystem, individual, social, cultural, societal, and ecological wavelengths that are central to meaningful learning relationships. This analysis was parlayed into several initiatives deigned to actively improve Veteran integration on campus. The next stage in the community's journey requires the imbedding of Veteran inclusion by establishing an enduring committee tasked with cultivating integration initiatives from initial Veteran interest through their graduation. Future academic research ought to look at Veteran narratives individually through the nested spectrum to qualitatively evaluate Veteran learning relationships. |
