As part of its commitment to helping military veterans achieve their educational goals, Purdue University is hosting a meeting of the Council on Military Transition to Education (CMTE) on March 5-6. The council is a consortium of select higher-education institutions that provides recommendations to the Department of Defense and other organizations on policies and practices related to military service members and veterans in higher education.
The meeting will include representatives from Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Florida State University, the University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, Kansas State University, College of William and Mary, Northeastern University, and several other colleges. Also scheduled to attend are Joseph Garcia, executive director of education service with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; James Rodriguez, assistant secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training Service with the U.S. Department of Labor; and Stephanie Miller, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Military Personnel Policy Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel Policy.
“At Purdue, serving veterans is focal to our land-grant mission,” says Kelvin Gumbs, a U.S. Navy veteran and executive director for educational partnerships in Purdue’s Office of Industry Partnerships. “We’re proud to host this group of schools and engage in deep discussions to ensure education always has a place in the military transition.”
The CMTE facilitates dialogue and makes recommendations to improving the experiences of veterans as they transition to and through higher education. The council aims to better understand, enhance, and share veterans’ educational policies, programs, and innovations at a national level.
“For many veterans, the transition from the military to the classroom carries with it a culture shock,” says Don Roush, a U.S. Army veteran who serves as interim executive director of graduate programs and director of the Business Military Association at Purdue’s Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business. “We look forward to hosting our peers and military guests to discuss and learn best practices while we promote the value proposition of what we offer at the Daniels School. Our goal is to provide these veterans who have served their country the best possible opportunity to succeed in higher education.”
