WEDNESDAY BUZZ: ACE Program Fulfills the Dreams of
Severely Injured Military Veterans
May 23, 2007
Today’s
edition of The New York Times contains a feature article on
Dartmouth College President James Wright and an American Council on
Education (ACE) pilot program focused on restoring the hope of attending
college for severely wounded Iraq war veterans.
As service
members leave active duty, they often lose the convenience of direct
access to the programs provided by the Department of Defense Voluntary
Education Program, including access to academic advisers, career
counselors, peer mentors, and command-sponsored programs. The ACE
initiative, Severely Injured Military Veterans: Fulfilling Their
Dreams, started in February 2007 as an academic advisory service to
provide direct support to severely injured veterans and their families
as they begin to align career goals and educational
attainment.
“Advances in medical care and the speed at which
care is administered on the battlefield have dramatically increased the
survival rate of service men and women injured while serving their
country in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said James Selbe, director of
program evaluation at ACE. “With the threshold for
medical-related discharges from military service having been raised,
many veterans returning to civilian life have sustained significant
injuries, and they often face difficult transitions in many aspects of
their lives.”
Inspired by
Dartmouth College President and Marine veteran James Wright, the pilot
program offers educational seminars and mentoring during the early
stages of the transition from a military hospital to the civilian
community. The goal is to provide the resources needed to make
informed decisions about selecting a college or university and
a program of study for personal and professional
success.
The
program provides the tools necessary to assist severely injured
veterans and their families in:
- Assessing long-term goals and aligning these goals with
postsecondary programs of study.
- Identifying and avoiding diploma and accreditation mills.
- Locating legitimate distance learning providers.
- Understanding what is required to be successful in all
coursework.
- Identifying learning resources and programs designed to better
prepare returning or first-time students.
- Learning about the college application process, including deadlines
and the difference between "early action" and "early decision."
Veterans and family members are then matched with advisers and
counselors specific to the individual’s educational aspirations
and career goals.
The pilot program currently employs academic
advisers in Washington, DC, and San Antonio, TX. Adviser Heather
Bernard, the mother of an Iraq War veteran, works with service members
at Walter Reed National Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval
Hospital, while Jeff Stevens, a disabled Vietnam veteran with a
doctorate from Texas A&M University, works with recovering service
members at Brooke Army Medical Center.
Wright’s involvement with injured veterans
started several years ago when he began regularly visiting returning
service members recuperating at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter
Reed. In conversations about their future plans, he would urge
them to consider returning to school. While Wright was not
concerned about recruiting students to Dartmouth, he was moved to
help.
More than $300,000 has been raised for the program
from a number of private sources, with Wright playing a prominent role
in the fundraising effort.
For more information, contact James Selbe via e-mail
at james_selbe@ace.nche.edu.
Also see the following stories:
The
Few, the Proud, the Dartmouth-Bound
The New York Times
(free reg. req.) (May 23, 2007)
Dartmouth
President Helping Put Wounded Veterans in College
International Herald Tribune (May 23, 2007)
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