Veterans office without program director

Pitt student veterans can print papers in David Lawrence Hall or grab a bite to eat in the…Pitt student veterans can print papers in David Lawrence Hall or grab a bite to eat in the Union, but if they walk into the Office of Veteran Services on the fourth floor of the Cathedral of Learning, they won’t be able to speak with a program director.

Since November 2011, the Office of Veteran Services has been operating with a limited staff. Despite conversations between the administration and student veterans on campus, the University is still in negotiations to find the OVS a director.

“A search has been under way for some time for a new director of veteran services at Pitt,” University spokesman John Fedele said in regard to issues raised by the Pitt Student Veteran Association. “An offer was extended on [Sept. 10] to an exciting candidate who also happens to be a veteran.

Fedele offered no further information on the candidate.

William Cole, president of Pitt’s SVA, approached the Faculty Senate Committee on Sept. 4 to present four main issues facing student veterans at the University. Chief among them was the need for a director and program assistant in the OVA — an office currently staffed by coordinator Janet Owens and benefits coordinator Dennis Renner.

Cole’s presentation also outlined the need for a veterans’ transition course, a veterans’ resource center and an increase in the means of communication from the SVA to student veterans throughout the University.

Cole said that a veterans’ transition course would help refresh veterans on skills that are necessary for becoming a successful student.

Student veteran Sean Rohrer joined the SVA to ease his transition back into the University and to connect with other veterans. As a 24-year-old sophomore and, prior to attending Pitt, a former combat veteran of about five years, he finds himself having to relearn basic academic skills that many would find to be second nature.

“One of the biggest things that I’ve found challenging is picking up basic math again,” Rohrer said. “[As a student veteran] you are coming back after five plus years without having done simple math, and now I have to take algebra or higher-level math.”

Rohrer said it’s quite a transition to go from working in the field to schooling, where a physical approach must be transformed into an academic one.

“When you are in the military you have one way of thinking, and there is a certain way of doing things. You are given a task, and nobody gets home until you’re done,” he said. “But in school you have several classes, and none of them are linked.”

In addition to a transition course, Cole proposed a veterans’ resource center that would give the group a designated room to meet and study. He also asked the University to aid in communication between the group and other student veterans on campus.

Currently, the group does not have access to Pitt’s database of contact information for student veterans. Cole proposed that instead of the University giving the SVA the contact information directly, it could forward the SVA emails to student veterans.

Cole said this year’s members have rebranded the club since he joined last year. It has been growing in membership and has been working toward making changes and accomplishing goals at the institutional level in order to ignite a greater awareness of veteran issues on campus.

Cole said that the 90 or so people currently in the program were recruited through a grassroots effort that included personally contacting people or having them fill out a form through the OVS. He hopes to strengthen the program among the more than 400 student veterans at Pitt.

Pitt’s SVA was established in 2007 and is one of more than 500 certified chapters of Student Veterans of America, a nationwide nonprofit organization that works with military veterans returning to universities.

The national organization is designed to help student veterans with a multitude of issues, and Cole said that veteran suicide stands as one of the biggest concerns facing veterans today.

He added that a way to mitigate the situation is to provide individuals with social and academic support as they transition from the military back into civilian life.

In many cases, Cole said, changes such as preferential course scheduling would help to alleviate some of the stresses that veterans face.

“For example, we had a guy get out of the Marine Corps, and two months later he’s going to school. He doesn’t know anyone, he doesn’t know much about the courses, and he doesn’t know who are good professors to take,” he said. “So by the time that his registration opens, he is kind of behind in relation to everyone else.”

And in some cases, veterans do not receive the academic credit they think they deserve for their time spent in the service.

Rohrer was certified as an EMT with a specialization in trauma, but the University granted him only one credit in physical education for his service. He found himself as one of the last people signing up for fall classes this semester, and as a result, most of the classes he needed were not available.

“I’m sure it happens all the time to other students, but it’s frustrating in my situation because I’m a 24-year-old sophomore, and so I’m already a little bit behind,” he said. “I know where I’m going in life, and I know what I want to do with my future. I need to get x, y and z done, and that’s a bit more difficult when I can’t get into any of the classes that I need to make it happen.”

University spokesman John Fedele said in an email that N. John Cooper, dean of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the College of General Studies, has reviewed the issues presented by the SVA at the recent Faculty Assembly meeting and that he believes there are constructive ways to move forward with each issue.

Fedele said that the University has nothing further to report at this time. When the new director is in place, Cooper will invite the interested parties, including Cole, to a meeting to explore the veterans’ concerns and possible ways of addressing them.