Office of Military Services

Students

George �鶹��Ƶ alum and Marine Corps veteran enters new role as president of University of West Georgia

Shayla Brown — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:02:59 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ alum and Marine Corps veteran enters new role as president of University of West Georgia Shayla Brown Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:02

�鶹��Ƶ alumnus and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Christopher Michael “Mike” Johnson, MAIS ’11, was recently appointed University of West Georgia’s ninth president. He stepped into his new role on August 1.

Johnson’s selection followed a national search led by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which named him the sole finalist in May before appointing him in June.

“It’s always a bit of a transition period having a new president come to a university with new goals and visions, but the north star will always be our students. Student success is our no-excuse priority,” said Johnson.

Michael Johnson. Photo by the University of West Georgia,

This role is the culmination of Johnson’s 20+ year career in higher education. In addition to his work at George �鶹��Ƶ, where he started a program that became the university’s Office of Military Services, Johnson has held leadership roles at Purdue and Northern Virginia Community College. Most recently he served as chief of staff at the University of Houston System and the University of Houston, where he also earned a PhD in higher education leadership and policy studies.

George �鶹��Ƶ was Johnson’s first job after transitioning out of the military.

“There was a wave of veterans like myself starting to come back to college campuses. The Office of Military Services allowed me one foot into the military space and one foot in the higher education space,” said Johnson.

“Although it was a transition period, I was still able to engage with a body of people that I felt comfortable around while helping them navigate their college experience. I feel honored to be a part of that growth of the university towards supporting veterans,” he said.

Johnson, a first-generation college graduate, accomplished a lot as a student and an administrator during his time on the Fairfax Campus, and he said his perspective as a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps has influenced his leadership style and approach to service and resilience.

While he and his wife, Beth, MA Strategic Communication ’12, raised their family, they also took classes while working full-time at George �鶹��Ƶ. While Mike was advocating for veterans, Beth worked as a communications manager for the university’s fund-raising efforts in the office now called the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations.

“Beth and I pursued grad school at the same time. We had a small child and had to move in with her parents, but I think that work-life balance was certainly made easier by George �鶹��Ƶ,” said Johnson. “Because the university had one of the best education benefits for its employees, they basically took away all of the reasons for me to say ‘I don’t have time.’”

Recently the College of Humanities and Social Sciences recognized Johnson for his dedication to student success, institutional advancement, and strategic leadership with the 2025 MAIS Distinguished Alumni Award.

“I can’t think of a greater honor than to come back to my alma mater and be recognized for the excellent work that I’ve been doing. The College of Humanities and Social Science provided a critical base of knowledge for me to draw upon as I was pursuing my PhD work,” he said. “And even today, I think those lessons learned have served me well in my current role.

“I don't think I truly appreciated my time at George �鶹��Ƶ fully until I stepped into this role,” Johnson said. “And I find myself from time to time reflecting on those experiences with my leadership team and the lessons that I observed as the university was maturing and have brought those experiences here to the University of West Georgia.”

Reporting by Jerome Boettcher contributed to this article.

Connect with the Office of Military Services

Topics

Alumni

Veterans Day

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Podcast: Serving those who serve: A deployment of education and research

Sarah Holland — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:10:23 +0000

Podcast: Serving those who serve: A deployment of education and research Sarah Holland Mon, 11/10/2025 - 10:10

�鶹��Ƶ proudly proclaims that we are All Together Different. We are a school where non-traditional students are traditional students. And though they face unique challenges, these students bring important perspectives and experiences to our classrooms. Nowhere is this clearer than with our population of students connected to the military.

On this episode of Access to Excellence, Senior Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Psychology Keith Renshaw joins President Gregory Washington to discuss the role George �鶹��Ƶ plays in providing service members, veterans, and their families the means to find community, purpose, and fulfillment beyond their military service.

I think a lot of times when people say, "I wanna make sure I know about the military veteran community so that I know how to recognize when somebody's got PTSD." And that is such a small piece of things. I'm really glad we have awareness of it, but I think it's kind of overtaken and overshadowed the totality of experience. Let's recognize the benefits, let's recognize the rich sort of experience that folks are bringing to the table. And let's start embedding that in trainings for faculty and staff so that we're aware of it and we can not only serve our students better, but leverage that experience to benefit all of our students more. And within that work, my real hope is that we don't just stay focused on veterans only, but we really broaden out to think about military spouses, military children, and the entirety of the family because that whole group brings a set of experiences to the table that we need to recognize and acknowledge. — Keith Renshaw

Read the transcript

Intro (00:00):

Trailblazers in research, innovators in technology, and those who simply have a good story: all make up the fabric that is �鶹��Ƶ, where taking on the grand challenges that face our students, graduates, and higher education is our mission and our passion. Hosted by �鶹��Ƶ President Gregory Washington, this is the Access to Excellence podcast.

President Gregory Washington (00:27):

It should go without saying that at George �鶹��Ƶ, everything starts with the students. As our website says, we're All Together Different, and that certainly describes the thousands of people who come to study in our classrooms and labs. George �鶹��Ƶ students have often taken a less traditional path to our doorstep. Many have had challenges that they've dealt with in their lives, or maybe they come to us from community college or are late life learners coming from the workforce, or as we're going to talk about today, they come from the military. No matter what path they took, non-traditional students are traditional students at George �鶹��Ƶ and with our guest today, we're going to take a look at how George �鶹��Ƶ works to open the doors for them. Keith Renshaw is �鶹��Ƶ's senior associate provost for undergraduate education and a professor of psychology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Actually, he probably would prefer I put the professor first. <laugh>. He specializes in anxiety, stress, trauma, and interpersonal relationships with particular interest in the experiences of service members and their families. Keith, welcome to the show.

Keith Renshaw (01:53):

Thank you very much. Happy to be here.

President Gregory Washington (01:56):

So you have an interesting path 'cause you're non-military, correct?

Keith Renshaw (01:59):

That is correct. I'm non-military.

President Gregory Washington (02:01):

So how did you first get involved in the veteran community?

Keith Renshaw (02:05):

That's, yeah, it's something a lot of people ask me, because a lot of times they assume I, I did serve. My field within psychology is clinical psychology, and with that degree I had to do a year-long clinical internship, which I did at a VA hospital. Shortly after that, I got my first tenure track job, uh, and that was at the University of Utah, and it was in, uh, 2005. And so we were in the height of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and you couldn't get away from all the reports about the impact of those deployments on the, the service members and, and in particular on their families. Um, and also on the folks who had, for instance, been in the National Guard and were being called up to deploy for 12, 15 months at a time. And I found myself really moved by those reports, and I wanted to do something.

Keith Renshaw (02:52):

I knew that myself, I wouldn't, uh, volunteer for the military. It just wasn't in me. And I had this overwhelming respect and almost awe for the people who would, and I wanted to find a way to use my own training to help. So one thing I considered was, uh, something called Give an Hour. This was a program back then that allowed you to donate sort of an hour of free therapy, uh, a week to, to somebody in the population. But as I thought about it, it felt too transient to me, and I wanted to do something that would be more sustainable. So what I did was tried to pivot my entire research program, which up to that point had really focused on anxiety disorders and adult relationships, to look at stress, trauma, and anxiety in the context of relationships within the military. Uh, and so through a series of connections, I started partnering up with the Utah National Guard and trying to find ways to design research studies to address problems they were seeing so that not only would I be able to sort of be giving back in some way through my work, I would be able to be directly impacting issues they were seeing and trying to help them form recommendations. And, and honestly, that work sort of launched my entire research career, which led me here to George �鶹��Ƶ in, in 2009.

President Gregory Washington (04:08):

I guess you had early life experiences with veterans that helped shape your current thinking and involvement. Is, is that accurate?

Keith Renshaw (04:16):

I would say that is accurate. Um, my kids would object to your using early life experiences given that I was in my twenties. But yes, I, that's, that's the way I would think about it.

President Gregory Washington (04:25):

So, so talk to me a little bit about what some of those experiences were. What kinds of things did you see that kind of moved you in this direction?

Keith Renshaw (04:35):

So when I was at the VA hospital working with, with some of the veterans at the time, uh, I, I was at that hospital in 2001, so I was there on 9/11 and, and, and after. And so I was seeing a lot of the veterans who were coming from the Vietnam era and also from sort of the first Gulf War era. And what I saw, especially in the Vietnam era veterans, well actually in, in really in both populations, was just how disrupted their relationships had been after they came back. And that was a lot in terms of trying to understand what they were experiencing now that they were done, um, and, and how to explain that to others, or how they couldn't explain that to others. And I also saw just how, um, disrupted their sense of purpose had become, and I saw this throughout, there's this incredible sense of, of mission and purpose that these folks were experiencing while they were part of the military.

Keith Renshaw (05:27):

And when they left, they were often sort of grasping for some element of that afterward that they just couldn't recreate. And that was really causing them a lot of distress. And so I, I found myself wanting to find ways to think about both of those elements. How could I do things that might impact their relationships and how might I also be able to think about helping them, uh, regain and, and find that purpose outside of the military, uh, while also sort of helping them in the traditional, you know, sort of psychological sense as I was working with them in therapy and whatnot.

President Gregory Washington (06:02):

In 2020, you helped lead the formation and launch of the Military Veterans and Families Initiative at George �鶹��Ƶ, the MVFI. Or I like to say M-V-Fi, you know? What was the inspiration behind the effort?

Keith Renshaw (06:21):

So when I got here over time, I started to get connected with other people at the university who also did something that touched on the service member, veteran family population. Um, at first it was researchers, people would, would introduce me to, you know, they'd say, "oh, somebody else is doing research with this group, you should really meet them." And so I would find out about this wide range of research we had going on here at the university from the kinds of things that I do, looking at sort of family adjustment, um, up through battlefield technology to sort of classified things people couldn't tell me about, you know, and all, all sorts of things. And, and if you look really at our, I, I know you know this, you know, if you look at our research portfolio, uh, over 50% of our federally funded projects come from the DOD over the past several years.

President Gregory Washington (07:03):

Yep, that is true.

Keith Renshaw (07:04):

So we have just an incredible range Yeah, pf, of, of research there. But I also met folks who are working with students. We had an Office of Military Services, uh, that started here under the leadership of Jennifer Connors, who's still their director now with her associate director, Ryan Barnett and some other staff. They serve the just huge number of students we have here at George �鶹��Ƶ. When we started this work, about 10% of our student body self-identified as service member, veteran or family. Um, we're now up to almost 14%. We have well over 5,000 students, um, who are in this, this group. And so that really just sort of spoke to us as we all sort of talked to each other, we're like, wow, there's a lot going on here. But what I think really kicked us off to think about what we're trying to do with MVFI is seeing all of the other ways that we touched on this population that was embedded in our education and research missions.

Keith Renshaw (07:54):

So a couple of examples: I learned about the M-Vets Clinic. This is a clinic that runs through our law school. Every, every law school has their third year law students, they've gotta get practical experience. The way our law school does it is to give free services to veterans with certain types of legal issues. And the students sit first chair, and then there's a barred faculty member who sits, um, second chair with them. And so under the leadership of Tim MacArthur, that group has been serving veterans for years at this point. And then I also found that we had this, uh, incredible Veterans in the Arts program that's actually a nationally recognized research program led by Niyati Dhokai in our College of Visual Performing Arts, where in the context of research on how art impacts the service member, veteran, family community, um, they are serving thousands of veterans through free workshops.

Keith Renshaw (08:40):

They come in, they do the workshops, and they're, we're talking painting, photography. They're closing on 20,000 folks that they've served over the past decade or so in that program. And so we just had these unique types of ways that we serve veterans that I did not see at other universities. And so when we all got together and started talking, we wanted to find a way to connect these, because the two things we realized were, one, a lot of people didn't know about this unless you knew where to look outside the university. And two, a lot of even the people doing these efforts didn't know each other and didn't know about the efforts. And so we wanted to connect them. Um, and that was really the inspiration behind the, the effort was to try to connect the programs, grow them, and really raise the visibility because we thought we should be shouting this from the rooftop so that people know.

President Gregory Washington (09:27):

So really you see this more as a matchmaking kind of framework. It's, is that right?

Keith Renshaw (09:32):

It started as that, yes.

President Gregory Washington (09:33):

Okay. Well talk about what specific services you offer, and then let's talk about some of the successes.

Keith Renshaw (09:40):

Yeah, sounds good. So, so in addition to those, we, we've seen some other growth. Another really interesting program we had, um, was something called Educate the Educators. So back in the sort of mid 2010s, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden had a whole initiative around sort of recognizing all that military service members and, and veterans and families were doing. And one component of that was called Educate the Educators. They wanted to train teachers in how to know the challenges and the resources available to military children. And so Jill Biden actually came to our campus to announce the sort of initiative because we were already doing the work. Uh, Jennifer Drake Patrick, a faculty member in our College of Education and Human Development had developed, Educate the Educators modules that were being embedded into our curriculum for all future teachers within our College of Education and Human Development. So we were able to sort of really put a spotlight on that and help that shine. That is now actually professional education that is available to all teachers from preschool up through 12th grade throughout the state of Virginia.

President Gregory Washington (10:40):

No, that's pretty cool. I think people underestimate what young people who were in military, look, I was a young person in a military family and then, and served myself. As a young person, one of the things I oftentimes remember is that you would establish friendships, and your friendships were in, you know, two to four year cycles. Right. You, you establish these friendships and then the next thing you know, you're off to another duty station and you would essentially start all over. And these moves didn't come at, you know, the opportune time. And, and I remember, you know, just when life was getting good for me, <laugh>...

Keith Renshaw (11:23):

<laugh>

President Gregory Washington (11:24):

Trust, when things were getting really good, there was a move.

Keith Renshaw (11:29):

Boom, yeah.

President Gregory Washington (11:29):

And you start all over, right? And, and so I think it probably affects those young people relative to how they maintain and engage relationships. Because everything is temporary, right? I believe I have fewer lifelong relationships, right, because of it. I've had a couple of relationships endure everything. But I can see where it's, where it can be a problem.

Keith Renshaw (11:56):

Yeah. You're so spot on with that. And, and this is really one of the things that grabbed us when we started this work and, and why it's not just military veterans, right, or service member veterans. And it's, it's military veterans and families because the impact is so huge and, and honestly, when you meet the families, right. Um, and this, this was part of what really hit me in my early work, the amount of resilience and commitment that they have, but they don't necessarily get recognized, right. When they're walking through the airport, people aren't applauding for them, right, you know, I mean...

President Gregory Washington (12:28):

People don't say, thank you for your service.

Keith Renshaw (12:30):

No, they don't. Right. And, and boy, they should! And, and one of the things that, that we've actually been able to do that really speaks exactly to what you were just talking about, uh, here at George �鶹��Ƶ, after we've started the MVFI, um, Jennifer Drake Patrick, that same faculty member, has also recently stood up with some support from us and some philanthropic donations we've gotten in, has been able to stand up, um, Student Ambassador days. So high schools in this area, most of 'em have Student Ambassador Programs. These are students who are sort of charged with helping new students transition in Right. And, and help them out. Obviously, the military children are a huge piece of that part. Yeah. Right. You know what I mean?

President Gregory Washington (13:04):

Without question. Especially here.

Keith Renshaw (13:05):

Yeah. And so, um, and they're coming in at all, at all times of the year and everything else. And so what we do now is we host those students. We brought, we bring students here to campus. They have a day on campus with our faculty and our students sort of training up in different ways to do this work and learning specifically about some of the challenges that the military children have and getting ready to work with them. And so we've been able to do that work and kind of amplify it. Started with one day with Fairfax, and now we have more than we can handle. Um, we got Prince William wanting to come in. We got Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, and, and so now we're, we're out there trying to find some more funds to, to support that work because we've got more demand than we can supply.

Keith Renshaw (13:45):

Um, so a another one that, that I'm really excited by to, to see how it's come is, was a success both in starting something new and then connecting programs. We took that M-Vets model and we have, uh, what's called the Center for Community Mental Health here at George �鶹��Ƶ, operates out the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. It's led by Robyn Mehlenbeck. And they provide therapy and assessment to the community through clinical psychology students, social work students, and counseling students who are all in graduate programs, training to be therapists and assessors and whatnot, um, in their, in their future life. So it's a similar model to the M-Vets program. Um, there is a cost associated with that. They're one of the lowest cost things in the area, but there's still a cost. And we've actually been able to, again, raise philanthropic funds to support the provision of services free to veterans and now their families as well. So any veteran or family in the area who needs therap,y needs assessment can come to our clinic and can get that free through that service. We actually now have a second fund.

President Gregory Washington (14:43):

Wow. Do we, do we advertise that? Is that something that's known?

Keith Renshaw (14:46):

We do. We actually partner with the Department of Veteran Services here in Virginia to make sure that they know. And so we actually sometimes have people referred from Richmond, Roanoke, you know, to, to come up for assessments in particular, um, because those are hard to get and extremely expensive. A thorough, you know, psychological assessment. The community is gonna cost you anywhere from three to $5,000.

President Gregory Washington (15:07):

And they can get that free.

Keith Renshaw (15:08):

They can get that free.

President Gregory Washington (15:09):

Outstanding. That's amazing.

Keith Renshaw (15:11):

On the student side, um, we have actually started to work and connect a lot of our different student offices around campus to the Office of Military Services through this work so that everybody's kind of on the same page. So we now have a monthly group that meets, and we have representatives from the Office of Military Services, Registrar's office, financial aid, Student Accounts, Counseling and Psychological Services, um, Center for Community Mental Health. I'm gonna forget some...Career Services...so that everybody knows the different things that are going on. And everybody also knows, hey, if you get a veteran coming in, there might be special services available to them. Um, and, uh, and so we've been able to stand that up. We now are just about to launch, I think this is now confirmed: in Fall '26 we are for the first time, gonna be able to evaluate veterans prior educational experiences in the military, through their joint services transcript, for credit here at George �鶹��Ƶ.

Keith Renshaw (16:03):

And we have not been able to do that for years just because it's, it's kind of a morass. But through the work of this group and through some advocacy from people in this group, um, we've gotten to the point now where our transfer credit evaluation team has put some technology in place. And we are, we are test running it now. And so, so far all looks good. And so we think that we're gonna be able to launch that starting Fall '26, um, where people are getting, uh, much more credit for their prior service. Because one, one of the things that I saw, at least in my time working with folks, is not only the incredible purpose and, and the incredible things that service members master during their time, but just how much of that doesn't show up on any kind of resume or transcript except for this joint services transcript. And so that is critical to being able to help them get toward that degree by not making them repeat things that they clearly have mastered in the past.

President Gregory Washington (16:55):

Oh, that's amazing. So, and, and that will then, will, it should equal more courses being--

Keith Renshaw (17:03):

Credited...

President Gregory Washington (17:04):

--Being awarded to students.

Keith Renshaw (17:05):

Right. So that they're not basically repeating the same thing that they already know.

President Gregory Washington (17:08):

Outstanding, outstanding. This Military Veterans and Families Initiative, how does it uphold �鶹��Ƶ's values as an institution?

Keith Renshaw (17:16):

Yeah, in my mind, it's, it's almost the sort of epitome of the values. And the reason I say that is because this whole thing is about bringing together inclusivity and access for students and supporting those students with what they need to get to their next step. With the incredible research enterprise that we have here, and the expertise that we have with serving the community and being a, a place where we are, um, we are a public good, right? We are a state entity, and we are here serving the state. We're doing that by serving the community members. We're in one of the, you know, most veteran-rich, service member-rich, family-rich areas of the country. And we have all of these services that are training our students, um, that are accomplishing research while also delivering services directly to that population in our region. In addition, we are one of the biggest producers of talent in the region, in the state. And we know that in our region, we have a number of employers who are not only looking for great talent, but they have specific recruiting initiatives around veterans. And so we are supplying that talent basically by bringing these things together. So we're able to marry the student services with the research mission, with the community service mission of our university. So, to me, it really sort of represents everything. And it also is bringing in a whole set of, of folks who have had a different life experience than those who haven't been in the military.

President Gregory Washington (18:51):

You know, what you call that?

Keith Renshaw (18:52):

I think I know what you're gonna say.

President Gregory Washington (18:54):

You know what we call that here? <laugh>, we call that diversity. And that's a part of the piece that's always missing from the discussions that we have on this topic.

Keith Renshaw (19:05):

You are right.

President Gregory Washington (19:06):

That's clear. We don't run from it.

Keith Renshaw (19:08):

Nope.

President Gregory Washington (19:09):

But I think the broader public misses that we see this as part of the diversity, the rich tapestry of diversity that we bring to this community, and that we work to enhance, you know, we work to engage, and we work to incorporate in terms of what George �鶹��Ƶ is all about.

Keith Renshaw (19:29):

And that kind of experience benefits not just the service members, the veterans and their families, benefits our students from seeing different perspectives, different backgrounds. I mean, you've got people who are coming here who lived all over the world, seeing all kinds of things, um, and that they're bringing that into our classrooms.

President Gregory Washington (19:47):

Yeah. I had a dinner last night with a group of students, and in that group, you know, we had former military students, and they were older than, you know, the traditional students in the group, and they brought a different set of life experiences to discussion. They're in the same classes. They have the same engagement. Uh, they, they work in the same groups. But they bring a different set of experiences. And that is valuable to other young people who are really, for lack of a better way of saying this, figuring themselves out.

Keith Renshaw (20:19):

That's Right.

President Gregory Washington (20:20):

A 2019- 2020 survey from the National Center on Education Statistics stated that veterans represent 3.7% of all undergraduate students in the US. Would you say that this data has changed since then?

Keith Renshaw (20:40):

I, yeah. So we don't have any comprehensive studies like that that they've done since that I have seen what we're seeing in some of the sort of, you know, sampling type studies, is that, that that number seems to be going up right, might be inching closer to 5%. Now, in addition, I think it's important to layer on top of that the veteran connected folks and the military connected folks, thinking about the kids, thinking about the, the spouses, right, 'cause military spouses, I, I just wanna sort of note, they often get left out of the conversation, you know, but they have their own issues with you, you mentioned it before, right, you know, just like the kids are moving every one to two to four years. So are the spouses. And so stringing together a set of educational or work experiences is difficult. So, so I think that that number is inching up. Um, it's certainly higher here at George �鶹��Ƶ.

President Gregory Washington (21:31):

We're higher than those statistics. Is that what you would say?

Keith Renshaw (21:34):

For sure. Yeah. We're definitely higher than that on the veteran side. And then when you layer on top of that, the, um, the sort of, we, we also have, you know, we've got active duty and, you know, guard reserve who are here as well. And then we've got, you know, a very robust, uh, enrollment of, of dependents and spouses.

President Gregory Washington (21:49):

What are some of the unique experiences that veterans bring to the classroom?

Keith Renshaw (21:54):

You know, I think all kinds of things, right? So, on the one hand, you've got a set of folks who have often had pretty global experiences depending on where they've been deployed. And, and when I say deployed, I don't mean combat zones. I mean, you know, they, sometimes they're going off and doing other types of missions. Also every, you know, one to two to three, four years, there are changes of station, right? And so sometimes they're in Germany or sometimes they're over in Korea, and, and, and so they're bringing all of that life experience in. But they're also bringing the experience of being part of this broader mission, you know, this, this broader group with a fairly singular mission. And that kind of experience of being a piece of a team to a level at which most people haven't experienced, I, I think is just invaluable, right?

Keith Renshaw (22:40):

To hear about and, and, and to see. And then they've got just a world of logistical experience. You've got, you've got some, you know, veterans who are coming in having managed, you know, millions of dollars of equipment, hundreds of other--right, you know, service members being responsible for their lives. And, and then they're walking into the classroom, right. You know, and sitting down and making a presentation with other groups that that's gonna change the way they think about some of the issues we're talking about in the classroom. Um, that's gonna layer on different experiences with other cultures as well, you know, a lot of folks are out there interacting with, with people all over the world. Right. Right. And having to kinda learn that.

President Gregory Washington (23:19):

It's interesting when you juxtapose that you may have been serving in theater in a country, and then you are now in the classroom interacting with students from that country. Right?

Keith Renshaw (23:32):

Absolutely. Especially here. Yeah.

President Gregory Washington (23:34):

Oh, yeah. Without question. What are some of the challenges or barriers veterans face when returning to school?

Keith Renshaw (23:40):

So one, I think, is a logistical one, which is being able to sort of get credit for some of the experiences and training they have had that maps really closely onto the courses that they're now being told they have to take because they don't have a neat transcript that shows it. Um, so that, that's, that's a biggie. I think the, you know, I don't know if culture shock is the right word, but, but having to sort of transition from the world they've been in to a classroom setting can often be challenging. It can often be challenging, I think, even from things as simple as a vague assignment that is vague on purpose, you know, sometimes we give our students assignments where part of the assignment is figuring out, right, what they need to do. Sometimes these are folks who are very used to being told precisely what they need to do.

Keith Renshaw (24:23):

I had one student I worked with who's a doctoral student, and, um, and his phrase was always like, what's the target? Right? What, what, what do I need to hit? Right. And I was like, unfortunately, you gotta figure out that target. Right. You know, that that's part of it. Part of it is finding it. Um, and so, you know, so we would have these kind of back and forths, but, but I'm gonna layer on top of all of that. I think one thing that doesn't get enough attention, which is often the search for purpose and mission, right? I think what we're seeing now is a real struggle in that transition period from service to veteran, um, where you go from having this very clear mission and, and you're part of an entire group that is 100% devoted to that mission, and then you step out, it's all kind of open. You know, what now? And I think that sometimes that's a, that's a bigger struggle than we realize sort of as as, as folks are trying to figure out, what am I doing next? How do we layer on that sense of purpose, that sense of mission with that work?

President Gregory Washington (25:21):

MVFI's mission of providing critical support to military veterans, and family extends to developing curricula and learning opportunities for our non-military connected students to understand the unique needs and experiences of veterans and their families. Right. Can you talk about some of these hands-on opportunities for our students?

Keith Renshaw (25:43):

I'm so glad you asked about that. So, you know, we, we have those educate the educator modules, right, right. Which will, which sort of train future teachers. We use that as a springboard to create a similar set of modules for healthcare programs. So partnered up with a, with a nonprofit and a, a, a medical doctor who had been in the service and created a set of modules that trained folks in healthcare about different sorts of conditions they might see. And again, different resources available to veterans. Um, because what folks don't realize is the majority of veterans are getting their care outside the VA system. A lot of times people think, oh, I'm not gonna see it. Well, you are, right? And especially if you're going graduate and practice in this region, you're absolutely going to see it. So we wanna prepare those students. Some of the other interesting things we've been able to do, and this is what I want, what I hope to grow in the future, is to be able to connect students in particular classes with either veteran serving organizations, nonprofits in the area that have particular needs, um, or other sorts of efforts.

Keith Renshaw (26:44):

And so, I'll give a couple of examples. I was, uh, talking to somebody who was, uh, running kind of a nonprofit, and they were like, you know, we just don't have time to build out our website to sort of get our, you know, our, our marketing out there, et cetera. And I said, well, let me look around and turns out, and we have, not surprisingly, a set of communication classes that that's what they do. And they're always on the lookout for clients as sort of practice for the students to get hands-on training that semester, so I was able to hook them up. And the students got their experience while helping this nonprofit get their website off the ground. And on the way the students also got to sort of see some of the issues that the service member, veteran family community is dealing with because of the content of what they were working on.

Keith Renshaw (27:31):

We had a partnership with the Department of Veteran Services to, um, help run, uh, a suicide prevention program that they do that's called, uh, Virginia's "Identify, Screen, and Refer." And they needed a, a logo so that they could give people something that would show that they had completed a certain type of training. Well, we were able to connect them with a, a summer class in graphic design here, and the students as part of their final projects, each submitted designs, and then the, all the final designs were sent to the Department of Veteran Services, and they selected a winner, and then that student was able to come down and talk about it. Turns out it was a military kid. And in the middle of his presentation, the, uh, Commissioner of, uh, Veteran Services was there, stood up, uh, came up and gave him a military coin for doing such a great job. It was, it was just a really, really cool moment for one of our students. Yeah.

President Gregory Washington (28:23):

Outstanding. So why is it important for students to learn about the unique needs of military veterans and their families, other students?

Keith Renshaw (28:31):

Yeah. I, I see it as, as one: part of our broader approach to, as you said before, right? From the perspective of diversity, recognizing we live in a, you know, global and diverse world. And our students need to be prepared for that in all aspects. Not just in one aspect of diversity, not in two or three aspects, but all aspects. This is another one. In addition, a lot of our students are going out there and doing work that is where they're gonna be interacting with folks. And, and guess what? <laugh>, a huge percentage of our population is military or veteran connected. So developing competence to work with that group is sort of critical to success. If you're in a service field, you need to be prepared for that. And just, if you're gonna be a person who interacts with other colleagues, you should be prepared for that to some degree. And so I see it as another piece of what we are delivering to our students in terms of training them to be prepared to engage with the full range of diversity they're gonna experience when they leave this place.

President Gregory Washington (29:34):

Especially if you stay in this area.

Keith Renshaw (29:38):

Absolutely.

President Gregory Washington (29:38):

Right? Which more than 70% of our students do. You stay in this area for a job, it's a high probability you're gonna deal with people from the military.

Keith Renshaw (29:50):

For sure.

President Gregory Washington (29:50):

And so you need to have an understanding or even some life experiences where you've engaged with folk in the classroom and others. That's right. So you, you're an accomplished professor here at George �鶹��Ƶ, and you've gotten multiple teaching awards. Right. And, you know, I always would envy you folk over in psychology because, you know, everything you do is so relatable. Yeah. <laugh>, which made it easier to win teaching awards.

Keith Renshaw (30:13):

<laugh>, I feel like you're, I feel like you're knocking down my award a little bit.

President Gregory Washington (30:17):

<laugh> Make it easier, because, you know, you deal with the human condition and everybody has a dog in the hunt. And they don't necessarily have that with differential equations. <laugh>, I, I get it. <laugh>. Um, but how have your experiences with the military community impacted your approach to teaching?

Keith Renshaw (30:36):

It's a, it's a great question. I'm gonna sort of put two elements to it. One is sort of my broader experiences, right? It's just kind of opened my eyes to a very particular slice of diversity that I would not have otherwise been aware of. And so that then makes me realize in my teaching, like I have to realize people in my classroom might have had any range of experiences that I'm not aware of. You know, when I started out early on in my teaching career, a lot of what I did relied on the relatability, right, of the material. And, um, you can make that be pretty fun. I realized, you know, over time that some of what I was making fun, um, I wasn't making fun of it, but I was making fun with it. But that was probably pretty personal to a student in my class, and I didn't realize it.

Keith Renshaw (31:25):

And so I was able to sort of shift my, as, as, as I had some more of these experiences, in particular, some of the experiences with the military folks, I was able to start to shift the way that I delivered my material, even to be a little bit more sensitive to that, I think, and to be, um, a little bit more aware. It also opened my eyes to the importance of exposing people to different perspectives in ways of thinking. And this one, I'll get a little more personal in, in this region, right? You make friends, right? You know, you meet people, um, who are coming in. And, um, number of years ago as I was sort of starting in this work, uh, you know, we had a military family kind of move into the, the neighborhood and kids were the same age, you know, and everything else.

Keith Renshaw (32:03):

So we, we spent a lot of time together and I ended up getting into some sort of in-depth conversations with their father who was a, a military member. And, and that really led to this kind of what now is probably going on almost 10 years of occasionally sort of stepping aside and having really deep conversations about issues where we have differing perspectives and trying to understand each other. And that has kind of formed the basis for how I think about what we need to be teaching all of our students, because we have far too little of people with from different perspectives trying to engage with each other, to understand each other, as opposed to put each other down or shut each other down. And in fact, that that really is driving some of the work I'm now doing in my current role in, in sort of senior associate provost for undergrad ed, trying to think about how do we foster these types of experiences in our students.

Keith Renshaw (33:02):

He came with me actually to an event we had last year pre-election that we hosted through our Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning. And the Schar School sent over Jennifer Victor and Lucas Núñez, and there was this whole sort of, uh, engagement of students and staff and faculty around particular issues. Um, and it was all fact-based and sort of respectful, but trying to sort of think about different sides of the same issue and, you know, and, and where people were coming from. So seeing how that can happen and how intentional that has to be, particularly now, um, has really shaped my thinking about how to teach in a way that makes people confront other ideas from a perspective of learning more about it. Not just shooting it down.

President Gregory Washington (33:48):

As someone with extensive experience at this intersection of the military community and higher ed, what would you say is one way higher ed can improve themselves in, in terms of the support of veterans, the military and their families?

Keith Renshaw (34:04):

I would love to see higher ed push ourselves in thinking about the military veteran family community within diversity work. As you said, you know, I mean, this is, this is work that, that has to happen because it's who our student body is, right? So how do we make sure it's robust so that it's capturing the totality of what we mean by diversity? So I would love to see us incorporate this, you know, the sort of understanding of the population and understanding the totality of what the, the population goes through. Because I think a lot of times when people say, oh yeah, you know, I mean, I wanna make sure I know about the military veteran community so that I know how to recognize when somebody's got PTSD. And it's like, that's not the totality, right? I mean, you know, that is, that is such a small piece of things that I think I'm really glad we have awareness of it, but I think it's kind of overtaken and overshadowed the, the, the sort of totality of experience.

Keith Renshaw (34:59):

Let's recognize the, the benefits, let's recognize the rich sort of experience that folks are bringing to the table. Um, and let's start embedding that in trainings for faculty and staff so that we're aware of it and we can actually not only serve our students better, but leverage that experience to benefit all of our students more. And within that work, my real hope is that we don't just stay focused on veterans only, but we really broaden out to think about military spouses, military children, and the entirety of the family because that whole group brings a set of experiences to the table that we need to recognize and, and acknowledge.

President Gregory Washington (35:42):

That is good stuff. So what encourages you to continue working with and advocating for the veteran community?

Keith Renshaw (35:50):

Every now and again, with this veteran opportunities group, some sort of emergent issue pops up. And because that group is functioning so well together and, and so tight, we're able to sort of problem solve it. And we help a student who is about to lose their benefits, right? Or who is about to have to stop out because their benefits ended, and we figure out a way to keep them in and get them over the finish line. When, when I see those kinds of things, I get excited. And when I see the kinds of things we've been able to do, standing up the Student Ambassador Days, starting these services at Center for Community Mental Health for the folks, um, continuing the services we're doing through M-Vets. When I see those kind of impacts, as much as this is all done right now with just donated time and effort from folks across the university, it keeps you going and it makes you wanna keep doing it.

President Gregory Washington (36:38):

Outstanding. Outstanding. Well, we really, really appreciate you, and we appreciate the work you're doing for our students and for our veterans and their families.

Keith Renshaw (36:47):

There you go. There you go. Well, I appreciate the opportunity.

President Gregory Washington (36:49):

Outstanding. Well, we're gonna have to leave it there. Keith, thank you for joining us and for your hard work in helping �鶹��Ƶ students succeed. I am George �鶹��Ƶ president Gregory Washington. Thanks for listening, and tune in next time for more conversations that show why we are All Together, Different.

Outro (37:13):

If you like what you heard on this podcast, go to podcast.gmu.edu for more of Gregory Washington's conversations with the thought leaders, experts, and educators who take on the grand challenges facing our students, graduates, and higher education. That's podcast.gmu.edu.

Serving military, veterans, and their families at George �鶹��Ƶ

In This Story

Keith Renshaw, PhD

Gregory Washington

Topics

Access to Excellence podcast

Featured podcast episode

podcast

Podcast Episode

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Psychology

Veterans Day

This veteran’s advice for her fellow former service members considering George �鶹��Ƶ? Do it!

Taylor Thomas — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:06:19 +0000

This veteran’s advice for her fellow former service members considering George �鶹��Ƶ? Do it! Taylor Thomas Thu, 11/06/2025 - 09:06

The Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy Gale said it first: “There’s no place like home.” Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) student Becca Simon, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, has no doubt she’s found her home in the College of Public Health at �鶹��Ƶ.

Navy veteran and Bachelor of Social Work student Becca Simon. Photo provided.

“Coming out of the military, you leave one community, and you don't really know where to go from there, and it can feel very isolating and very lonely. To make new connections with people can be terrifying. And instead, I found a home in a community. I would venture to say that it's been life-changing,” said Simon.

Simon describes the transition from military to civilian as challenging, but with support from the Office of Military Services, says George �鶹��Ƶ’s unparalleled dedication to veterans deserves its ranking as a top university for veterans in the country.

“I don't think I spoke to anybody in [the Office of Military Services] that wasn't helpful or willing to find answers if they didn't know. They’re up to date on things with Veterans Affairs, and just being so welcoming about coming out from the military and becoming a full-time student,” she said. “New things can be scary and confusing and overwhelming, and they definitely made it easy for me to understand what was required of me, the documents that we needed, and just made the application process much smoother.”

During her time in the Navy, Simon worked as a Sexual Assault Victim Advocate, where she regularly interacted with social workers. When searching for where to get her education, she wanted an institution that aligned with her admiration for how social workers approach mental health, conflict resolution, and addressing trauma.

“Most of those people that I admired were social workers, so I started, you know, really asking myself, well, what did I want to do. What direction did I want to go in? Many of the survivor advocates were social workers, and it ignited something that made me think, ‘I wanna do more with this when I get out of the military.’ It’s amazing to be surrounded by people who want to be social workers, who are passionate about the future of social work in this country,” Simon said, who intends to pursue her Master of Social Work here at the college after completing her BSW in 2027.

When asked who her favorite instructor has been so far, Simon explained there was no way to choose. “I adore them all,” she said. “There’s something about each and every one that is my favorite. They're all just incredible human beings and incredible at what they do.”

Simon has very straightforward advice for her fellow veterans considering George �鶹��Ƶ. Two words: Do it!

“You will find your place here, you'll find a home here, you'll find where you belong.”

Topics

Department of Social Work

social work students

Bachelor of Social Work

Students

�鶹��Ƶ leads Virginia with strong U.S. News online program rankings

Colleen Rich — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 18:53:30 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ leads Virginia with strong U.S. News online program rankings Colleen Rich Fri, 01/17/2025 - 13:53

�鶹��Ƶ continues to distinguish itself as a top academic institution and a top 50 public university. Today, U.S. News & World Report released their 2025 Best Online Programs rankings, highlighting the university’s exceptional offerings across several disciplines, especially for veterans.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

George �鶹��Ƶ advanced its rankings in nearly every online master’s degree program where it was included. The university is one of just five institutions in Virginia ranked in at least nine of the 13 categories where it is included, earning No. 1 rankings in four of those categories, more than any other university in the state for these categories.

“These rankings affirm that George �鶹��Ƶ is a leader in Virginia in producing graduates for high-demand industries critical to the growth and prosperity of the commonwealth,” said George �鶹��Ƶ President Gregory Washington. “We achieve these outcomes by partnering with industry leaders to develop academic programs that prepare graduates for a rapidly evolving workforce.”

A Leader for Military-Affiliated Students

With more than 4,700 students identifying as active-duty service members, veterans, or dependents, George �鶹��Ƶ remains a vital resource for Virginia’s largest military-connected community. This year, approximately 20% of the university’s incoming freshman, transfer, and graduate cohorts have military connections, reinforcing the university’s reputation as a top destination for military-affiliated students.

George �鶹��Ƶ earned the top spot in Virginia and nationally among public universities for its MBA program for veterans, and was first in Virginia and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region for its master’s in nursing for veterans.

In September 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked George �鶹��Ƶ as one of the state’s best colleges for veterans. The university was also recognized with “Gold” status as a top Military Friendly University, underscoring its commitment to supporting those who have served.

“We are proud to serve a region that is home to a significant number of military members, veterans, and their families,” said Jennifer Connors, George �鶹��Ƶ’s director of Office of Military Services. “At George �鶹��Ƶ, we are committed to providing resources to support their unique needs. It is our duty to honor their service to our nation by empowering them to excel academically and professionally.”

Strong Performances Across Disciplines

In addition to its programs for veterans, George �鶹��Ƶ’s online master’s programs excelled in several other areas: education, nursing, business, and engineering.

Northern Virginia boasts some of the nation’s top public school systems, and George �鶹��Ƶ playing a significant role in that success. Approximately half of the region’s K-12 school administrators and an estimated one third of its teachers hold degrees or certificates from George �鶹��Ƶ.

In the face of a national shortage of special education teachers, the university’s master’s in special education program stands out, ranking No. 1 in both Virginia and in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and 5th nationally.

“We are thrilled to see our special education program recognized among the top five in the country,” said Ingrid Guerra-López, dean of the College of Education and Human Development. “This achievement is a reflection of our faculty’s remarkable expertise, dedication, and innovative approaches to preparing graduates to make a lasting impact in classrooms and communities.”

The School of Nursing within George �鶹��Ƶ’s College of Public Health saw significant advancements in its rankings. The master’s in nursing program ranked No. 1 in Virginia, climbing up eight spots to 41st nationally (34th among public universities). Additionally, the Master’s in Nursing for Veterans program rose to 14th nationally (up from 18th), and 9th among public universities (up from 11th).

“Through hands-on clinical training and cutting-edge simulation technologies, our students are equipped with unmatched knowledge and cultural competencies,” said College of Public Health dean Melissa J. Perry. “Our graduates are among the most well-prepared nurses in the country.”

The Costello College of Business earned significant accolades, with its MBA for veterans program climbing to 30th (up from 41st) among public universities and 34th nationally (up from 50th). The MBA program also rose to 41st among public universities (up from 54th), 55th nationally (up from 74th), while its non-MBA program ranked 39th among public universities (up from 44th) and 56th nationally (up from 62nd).

George �鶹��Ƶ’s College of Engineering and Computing saw two of its newest programs make strong debuts. The master’s in industrial engineering is best in Virginia and 10th nationally. The master’s in engineering for veterans’ program ranked 29th nationally. The master’s in engineering program climbed 22 spots to 45th nationally, and 38th among public universities (up from 51st).

The new master’s in IT for veterans program also made a strong first impression, ranking 21st nationally and 13th among public universities.

A Commitment to Excellence in Online Education

The strong performance of George �鶹��Ƶ’s online programs aligns with the university’s mission to support students where they are. The flexible class offerings are a welcome boon to the university’s large number of post-traditional students, many of whom are professionals who continue to work full-time jobs and family responsibilities while pursuing academic goals to enhance their careers.

Check out the full list of George �鶹��Ƶ rankings at gmu.edu/rankings.

See more of George �鶹��Ƶ's rankings

Topics

Campus News

Rankings

College of Public Health

College of Engineering and Computing

Costello College of Business

Strategic Direction

�鶹��Ƶ honored as a top Military Friendly University

Colleen Rich — Tue, 28 May 2024 15:21:14 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ honored as a top Military Friendly University Colleen Rich Tue, 05/28/2024 - 11:21

�鶹��Ƶ’s commitment to the military community was officially recognized with a top designation as a 2024-25 Gold Military Friendly® School in the latest Military Friendly listings.

George �鶹��Ƶ was among the 243 schools recognized with “Gold” status for their leading practices, outcomes, and effective programs in the listing of the nation’s top Military Friendly® institutions for the 2024-25 school year.

“This recognition is only possible thanks to the supportive relationships we have built with individual offices, programs, and colleges,” said Jennifer Connors, director of George �鶹��Ƶ’s Office of Military Services. “Leadership, faculty, and staff have an unwavering commitment to those who serve. Given our location in the National Capital Region, we have a deep-rooted culture of appreciation. �鶹��Ƶ is dedicated to ensuring that our military members, veterans, and their families receive the respect and resources they deserve.”

�鶹��Ƶ 10% of George �鶹��Ƶ students are current or former military, or military dependents. George �鶹��Ƶ’s nursing and education online master’s programs for veterans are Top 20 nationally, and business is top 50. More than 2,000 �鶹��Ƶ students using Veterans Affairs education benefits, and more than 100 are using Department of Defense Federal Tuition Assistance. Almost 800 use the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program.

George �鶹��Ƶ also has about 1,000 veterans who are adjuncts, administrative and professional faculty, instructional faculty or research faculty, classified staff, or student or wage employees.

The university’s Military, Veterans, and Families Initiative strengthens bonds and builds community among veteran students, alumni and families, and supports the education, well-being and professional development of veterans.

More than 1,800 schools were evaluated from public data sources and a proprietary survey, with 537 recognized with Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards. The entire list will be published in G.I. Jobs magazine’s May issue and can also be found at militaryfriendly.com.

Methodology, criteria, and weightings were determined by Viqtory, an independent research firm that connects the military community to civilian employment and educational and entrepreneurial opportunities. Criteria included student retention, graduation rates, job placement, student loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer), and loan default rates for all students and student veterans in particular.

Topics

Campus News

Military

Strategic Direction

Virginia recognizes Jennifer Connors with award for military education excellence

Colleen Rich — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 19:48:42 +0000

Virginia recognizes Jennifer Connors with award for military education excellence Colleen Rich Fri, 12/03/2021 - 14:48

Jennifer Connors. Photo provided

From one veteran liaison position and a single cubicle in the Office of Admissions to a full-service standalone resource center, the Office of Military Services (OMS) at �鶹��Ƶ has grown to support the more than 3,500 military-affiliated students.

The person behind this effort: Jennifer Connors, founding director of OMS.

“Jennifer has been the visionary and architect of everything ‘veteran’ within the �鶹��Ƶ community,” said Ryan Barnett, OMS’ associate director.

Connors, a former chief master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, said: “My job for a very long time in the military was taking care of people.”

Connors is the first recipient of the Admiral John Harvey Career Achievement in Military Education Excellence Award, which was presented by the Virginia Department of Veteran Services in September.

This honor is awarded to an employee of an education or training facility who is directly involved in the delivery of military education programs and has worked at least five years with military-related students while demonstrating dedication and leadership in providing quality service, leadership, and innovation.

“Jennifer and her team have created an inclusive, supportive environment for members of the military community in OMS,” Alan Byrd, �鶹��Ƶ’s dean of admissions, said. “It makes all the difference in the world for our students.”

Jennifer Connors with her Office of Military Services team. Photo provided

The award is special, Connors said, because it coincides with her 10 years of service at �鶹��Ƶ.

“I have an incredible staff and student veteran population that got me to this point,” Connors said. “It’s reflective of our community as a whole.”

Since she was hired in 2011 as the first director of military services at �鶹��Ƶ and the first female director of a college veteran center in Virginia, Connors’ role as a servant leader hasn’t faltered.

“She works tirelessly to remove barriers for students and to position them for success at �鶹��Ƶ and beyond,” Byrd said.

Connors said her work never feels like a job.

“I'm serving my country by continuing our mission here at �鶹��Ƶ to make sure that our veteran population is supported and a part of our community and successful,” she said.

Connors does everything from providing student counseling sessions for benefits and academic support to giving feedback on legislation to Congress.

In November, Connors helped launch OMS’ partnership with �鶹��Ƶ’s LGBTQ+ Resources Center. She also aided in creating �鶹��Ƶ’s Military, Veterans, and Family Initiative (MVFI), a one-stop shop for �鶹��Ƶ veteran support services ranging from mental health resources to legal and recreational support.

Connors said the guiding principle at OMS is “you don’t leave anyone behind.”

Connors enlisted in the Air Force in June 1995, transitioned to the Air Force Reserve in 2010, and retired from the Reserve in July 2020. She became the first female chief master sergeant of the Force Generation Center while serving as superintendent from June 2018 until her retirement.

“Through her tireless efforts, initiative, and leadership, Jennifer Connors sets the standard for military education professionals,” Barnett said.

Topics

Faculty and Staff News

Awards

Military

Ryan Barnett is December Employee of the Month

Colleen Rich — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 19:57:30 +0000

Ryan Barnett is December Employee of the Month Colleen Rich Mon, 11/29/2021 - 14:57

President Gregory Washington and Ryan Barnett at his Employee of the Month recognition ceremony. Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

Ryan Barnett joined �鶹��Ƶ’s Office of Military Services (OMS) to provide the help and support to military-affiliated students the way OMS did for him.

“I jumped on the position because I wanted to be able to provide that help to the next group of people coming through the doors,” Barnett said.

As associate director of OMS, Barnett provides military-affiliated students with one-on-one support for everything from financial aid to counseling to career services. He often works with other �鶹��Ƶ offices, such as Housing and Residence Life, the Global Education Office, and the Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment, to ensure military-affiliated students have everything they need to succeed in higher education.

“I personally have never met an individual who better personifies the qualities of leadership, professional excellence, inclusiveness, and service before self,” said Daniel Steciak, certification specialist for the Office of the University Registrar.

For his commitment and passion, Barnett is December Employee of the Month.

“Ryan will always find something in common with a person he meets, and he uses that connection to make the other party feel as though he is genuinely interested in them—and he is,” Steciak said.

Barnett served as an infantry squad leader in the U.S. Marine Corps deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines, and Japan from 2001 to 2009. He graduated from �鶹��Ƶ in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in health, fitness and recreation resources. He returned to �鶹��Ƶ in April 2015, first as OMS’s operations manager, then as assistant director, and was recently promoted to associate director in September.

“I really enjoy and appreciate being a part of the resource that is very accessible to the veteran, to the military member, and to the child and the spouse of the military member,” Barnett said.

“Ryan is simply one of the most generous and caring individuals I have met in my life,” said Jennifer Connors, director of OMS.

How he got to �鶹��Ƶ:

When I got out of the U.S. Marine Corps, I returned home to Northern Virginia, where I began classes at Northern Virginia Community College and later transferred to �鶹��Ƶ. After I graduated from �鶹��Ƶ, I worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A job opportunity popped up with OMS, and I took it. As a student, OMS was very near and dear to my heart because it was the only place on campus as a veteran where I felt I could fit in with people who had similar experiences at the time and for resources on how to use my benefits.

Best day on the job:

I really enjoy helping people, and I like that OMS goes out of its way to help people. Any day where we have impacted somebody’s life positively is a good day. I recently helped a student veteran, who had been in a motorcycle accident and was in the hospital. The student veteran later came back to �鶹��Ƶ to thank us for supporting and visiting him while he was injured. He had found his home and community here. That was a really good day.

What he likes best about working at �鶹��Ƶ:

OMS is able to do everything that we do because we have such great employees at �鶹��Ƶ. Everybody that I’ve ever reached out to has always come through. The fact that the �鶹��Ƶ community is very supportive just reinforces that we are doing good things.

What he does when he’s not working:

Right before the pandemic hit, I started running my own small business of urban hydroponic farming. My goal coming up this season is to be at a farmer’s market selling weekly, so I can provide regular donations, monetarily or produce-wise, to local food banks.

Topics

Faculty and Staff News

Employee of the Month

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

�鶹��Ƶ doctoral students selected as this year’s Tillman Scholars

Colleen Rich — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 15:15:28 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ doctoral students selected as this year’s Tillman Scholars Colleen Rich Tue, 11/09/2021 - 10:15

�鶹��Ƶ doctoral students LeNaya Crandall Hezel and Lt. Col. Michelle Ruehl are being recognized for their service work and desire to make an impact. The two are part of the 2021 class of Tillman Scholars, named in honor of Pat Tillman, the former NFL star who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 while serving with the U.S. Army Rangers.

Hezel is a military spouse and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultant working on a PhD in sociology, and Ruehl is an Air Force pilot and English teacher working on a PhD in Writing and Rhetoric. The women are two are the 60 scholars chosen from thousands of applicants this year by the Chicago-based Pat Tillman Foundation.

Sociology PhD student LeNaya Crandall Hezel is a Tillman Scholar and a 2021 Stand-To Veterans Leadership Program Scholar. Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

LeNaya Crandall Hezel

A classically trained soprano, Hezel is now using her voice to advocate for DEI. During the tumultuous 2020, she started NayceQuest LLC to guide organizations as they discover meaningful ways to be equitable and inclusive.

She said that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, her husband, who serves in the U.S. Navy, had just returned from a deployment in Djibouti, and at home with her three daughters, she was thinking “How are we going to do this?” She made the decision to step away from her full-time job as the inaugural veterans office director at Georgetown University and be a full-time student.

“Then George Floyd’s death happened, and I couldn't sit on the sidelines and be like, ‘I'm just going to let the rest of the world figure it out,’” said Hezel, who is also a 2021 Stand-To Veterans Leadership Program Scholar with the Bush Institute. “When I recognized where the need and the demands for this work were, I took action.”

Growing up, Hezel had two nicknames, Nay and Ace, which she merged into Nayce for the name of her company. Through NayceQuest LLC, she has been helping organizations move beyond “checking the box” when it comes to implementing DEI in the workplace. For this work Hezel said she is using a sociology lens and institutional ethnography, looking at the differences between “what's being said versus what is actually happening in the day-to-day practices.”

With her dissertation, Hezel again puts the need of veterans and her previous work with the veterans and military community at the forefront as she looks at campus veteran resource centers and whether they have an impact on student academic success, specifically undergraduate student veteran graduation rates.

“My hypothesis is the schools that have the resource center or the dedicated office, they're going to have higher graduation rates,” said Hezel. “But there's no research on that so I hope to fill that gap.”

Writing and rhetoric PhD student and Air Force pilot Michelle Ruehl often taught English as a volunteer during her deployments. Here she is with some of her students in Afghanistan. Photo provided

Lt. Col. Michelle Ruehl

Things move fast in Ruehl’s world, and not just because she is an Air Force pilot. She started her doctoral studies at �鶹��Ƶ in 2021 after a year as a White House Fellow where she worked as a speech writer for a number of leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris.

When she found out her next assignment would be at the Pentagon, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff for three years, she quickly scrambled to get herself in a PhD program. Ruehl has been teaching English and aviation at the Air Force Academy with two master’s degrees, one in English and another in psychology.

“I've taught now in higher ed for eight years, and I would love to keep doing that,” Ruehl said of adding a PhD to her list of credentials. “[The academy] doesn't require pilots to have a PhD, and I realized, when I get out of the Air Force, I will actually have to compete for jobs with the real professors.”

Even before the Air Force Academy gig, Ruehl was finding her way into the classroom. She tells of flying planes over Afghanistan at night and volunteering to teach English during the day.

As the daughter of a musician and the granddaughter of a choir director, she said she also finds teaching English to be an excuse for bringing in other parts of the humanities, including music. Music really made a difference in one of those Afghanistan classrooms in which she was teaching a group of men.

“They want to learn English so badly that they were willing to kind of put up with me,” said the mother of two. “But they wouldn't look at me.”

To break the ice, she brought her guitar to class and sang a song in Dari that she learned online. “Of course, I was butchering it,” she said of the song.

But soon the students were laughing and asking her where she learned the song—and if she could play Michael Jackson.

“Music was able to break down 3,000 years of cultural differences,” she said. “It took a couple of weeks, but then we could get to the writing.”

After her last deployment, Ruehl and her husband started the nonprofit Parwana LEADership Legacy to honor the friends they lost in the war and the people of Afghanistan. They provide leadership programs to veterans and their families.

She also created a camp curriculum for kids that teaches empathy, active listening and service, often using horses. Each camp session is dedicated to a service member who was lost in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“It felt like the only thing I could do when I came back from my deployment was to find a way to keep saying their names,” she said.

Topics

Students

Tillman Scholars

�鶹��Ƶ’s Ryan Barnett selected as a G.I. Jobs 2021 Veteran Champion of the Year in Higher Education

Colleen Rich — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:43:36 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ’s Ryan Barnett selected as a G.I. Jobs 2021 Veteran Champion of the Year in Higher Education Colleen Rich Mon, 09/20/2021 - 16:43

As assistant director of �鶹��Ƶ’s Office of Military Services (OMS), Ryan Barnett helps military-affiliated students at �鶹��Ƶ succeed in pursuing a post-military education.

He feels good, he said, “knowing that at the end of the day I’ve made a difference in certain people’s lives that needed it.”

“Ryan’s service to our student veterans and community does not stop at the door nor at the end of a day,” said Jennifer Connors, director of OMS. “He has on more than one occasion accompanied student veterans to court-related appearances, found legal counsel at reduced rates and personally given hundreds of dollars from his personal salary to help struggling veterans.”

An infantry squad leader in the U.S. Marine Corps deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines, and Japan from 2001 to 2009, and a �鶹��Ƶ alum, Barnett said he always tries to go above and beyond for �鶹��Ƶ’s military community, which includes members of the military, veterans and their families.

His services include one-on-one support for everything from admissions and financial aid to counseling and career services.

For his dedication to �鶹��Ƶ’s military community, Barnett is one of only 19 people nationwide recognized as a 2021 Veteran Champion of the Year in Higher Education by G.I. Jobs.

The award recognizes those who advocate for the advancement of America’s veterans and military students in higher education by seeking to enable their success at colleges, universities and vocational schools.

The list of awardees was published by VIQTORY in the August issue of G.I. Jobs magazine, a national print and digital publication that has been connecting service members, veterans and their families to civilian career, education and business ownership opportunities since 2001.

Receiving this award “was very humbling,” Barnett said. “It is very validating to be recognized for trying to do some good.”

After graduating from �鶹��Ƶ in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in health, fitness and recreation resources, Barnett worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He returned to �鶹��Ƶ in April 2015 as OMS’s operations manager. He was promoted to his current position of assistant director in 2016.

Barnett helps OMS recruit and retain the more than 3,500 military-affiliated students at �鶹��Ƶ.

“Our main goal is to help these types of students get into college, stay in college, and then get them out the door in a positive way,” Barnett said.

“Ryan is a Patriot at heart, both in his service to country and to �鶹��Ƶ,” Connors said. “Ryan embodies the values of our university community and has made lasting and immeasurable contributions to every life he touches.”

Barnett will be participating in the selection of the 2022 Veteran Champion of the Year in Higher Education.

Topics

Faculty and Staff News

Alumni