S2 E13: Strategies for Supporting Military-Affiliated Students

Drs. Glynita Bell and Amy Preston Page visit Keystone Concepts in Teaching to discuss an important part of the university community: military-affiliated learners.  We explore strategies that support all students in education, and consider the unique needs of the military and military-adjacent community. 

Resources: George Mason University Office of Military Services:  https://military.gmu.edu/ George Mason University Human Resources – Military Members and Veterans:  https://hr.gmu.edu/diversity-and-inclusion/military-members-and-veterans/ George Mason University Military Friendly School Announcement:  https://www.gmu.edu/news/2024-05/george-mason-university-honored-top-military-friendly-university  Example paper about the military as a “greedy” organization:  Segal, M. W. (1986). The military and the family as greedy institutions. Armed forces & society, 13(1), 9-38.

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Transcript

Rachel: 0:08

Hello, and welcome to Keystone Concepts in Teaching, a higher education podcast from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning, where we share impactful and evidence based teaching practices to support all students and faculty. I'm your host, Rachel Yoho, and today I'm joined by two faculty from George Mason University. I'm joined by Dr. Glynita Bell. She's an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work in the College of Public Health. And I'm also joined by Dr. Amy Preston Page, who's also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work. So thank you both so much for joining us today.

Glynita: 0:44

Thank you for having us.

Amy: 0:45

Yes, thank you for having me.

Rachel: 0:47

So as we get started for today, we want to look at our community and especially our community at Mason and at other institutions, perhaps. And we want to talk about supporting military and military adjacent students. So when we're talking about supporting these audiences, military and military adjacent students, what does this mean exactly? Can you tell us a little bit more about this group and what this means in higher education?

Amy: 1:16

Yes, thank you for asking. So, it's important to understand that there is a broader category, as you said, of military students, as well as military adjacent students. So many of us may think of military students, we may think of students who are still, you know, in the military directly, whether that be on active duty or serving in the National Guard or Reserve. It also can relate to students who have prior service. So those who are veterans and either, you know, left service at some point in their career, or maybe they served a full term of service typically considered 20 years and they've officially retired from the military. So those would be the students who I would say are the military students. And the military adjacent students would include basically anyone who is connected to that person. So it could be someone who is married to a current or former service member or a life partner. It could be the grown children of service members. So they maybe have grown up living in the military lifestyle and now they're out on their own in college or in grad school. It can also be sometimes it can be parents or caregivers. So really it can be a really broad umbrella that encompasses anyone with some sort of affiliation with the military.

Glynita: 2:27

And I think what's so important about what Dr. Page just described is we have to make sure we're being inclusive when we think about diverse groups of learners to include military and military adjacent families and be very conscious that they're all over the place. So Dr. Page and myself are both military adjacent in our experiences.

Rachel: 2:47

I think that's such a great point because we might be thinking about especially at veteran friendly veteran supporting institutions, those individuals, but thinking about the other people. And it's such a diverse group across different experiences and not just identities, but also where they're at currently for taking classes or something like that. And so when we're thinking about such a wide range and a varied group, can you tell us briefly about some of the challenges or maybe some of the specific skills, if we're taking a little bit more of a positive look at this for members of this group and the varied members of this group.

Amy: 3:25

Yes, thank you. So, in many ways, some of the challenges faced by this group, can have a good bit of overlap with challenges faced by really any student group, but there are some unique characteristics just based on the nature of the lifestyle that can manifest a little bit differently. So, one thing that may immediately come to mind, you know, for anyone who thinks of military might be moving around a lot. And that is definitely something that does happen, particularly for those who are serving or are connected to the active duty population. Those are the ones who typically they move maybe every two or three years. Sometimes a little bit less, sometimes a little bit more, but that's kind of a good rule of thumb for thinking about the number of relocations. That's not to say, you know, many students move a lot, right, and they may move, you know, long distances, but with the active duty military culture, it's a feature rather than a bug, so to speak. And so that's something that happens a lot, right. And so people know that they plan around it. And at the same time you can know it's coming and you can plan and speaking from experience here sometimes things change quickly at the last minute, or, you know, just lots of adaptability, which is a strength that will come to in just a moment. Another challenge that can manifest in a unique way with this group and I would say this cuts across all all areas of service active duty, National Guard, reserve is this concept of transition and culture shifts. And that's both transitioning into the culture and transitioning out of the culture and then at different points within as well. So just an example, there's a famous paper out there that refers to the, the military as a greedy institution, meaning that it's a really, a very all encompassing lifestyle. And with that comes many benefits and many wonderful things about the lifestyle. And it does bring some challenges, particularly in terms of, this can really become a really core aspect of a person's sense of identity and sense of self. And it can also be really removed from their sense of identity and sense of self right and so the nature of both of those approaches can create challenges if someone is moving into or out of the military as a culture, just kind of with any big major life transition, there's great things about it and then there's some challenges. And then another thing that we think of in terms of challenges, really relates to just the ongoing impacts of service. Many listeners may be familiar with military deployments, military sexual trauma. Those are certainly things that we need to be mindful of and can have effects, not only on the individual who is directly affected, but reverberating effects out, you know, into their broader communities. I'll pause there in case Dr. Bell wants to add anything about challenges.

Glynita: 5:59

I think you covered it and I think it's just again, so important to make that tangible to our classroom settings and being really mindful of the experiences that our students are bringing into the room with them. Right? As we talk about just being really engaged with the idea that our students have a diverse background that they're bringing into our classroom that really can enrich the classroom experience. So really leaning into that and inviting our military students and military adjacent students to share their rich life experiences as it relates to our course topics. I think that we have the luxury to very often visually see what diversity is in our classrooms. Typically, right? You can scan a room and see that there are male and females and scan a room and see some ethnic diversity. You can't always see that with our military students or the military adjacent students. So it's just so important to be mindful of these challenges as well as the strengths that Dr. Page highlighted because the richness and the fullness of the lives that have been lived adds so much to the course content.

Rachel: 7:04

That's a great point. And so when we're thinking about how we support this as another basically cultural group, there's a military culture and terms and all of those things, right? So when we're thinking about- how do we move not only as an institution, but particularly as individual instructors from sort of that like military friendly, which hopefully we are, to a little bit more inclusive classrooms and teaching practices. So maybe a bit more military inclusive, military supportive, rather than just friendly.

Amy: 7:37

Thank you. It's such an important question. So I think building on what Dr. Bell was just saying, I think a lot of it really comes down to starting with strengths. Starting with recognizing all the many wonderful characteristics that this population has just by nature of being a student. That's just a wonderful thing to be a student. And then some specific aspects related to the lifestyle kind of oftentimes drawn from the challenges that then turn into strengths like what Dr. Bell was saying about that sense of perspective, the rich life experiences that Dr. Bell mentioned, you know, sometimes living all over the world or just having a really deep, literal sense of how global events are very present, you know, in day to day life, sometimes even in their own homes. Right. And so I think that is a sense of perspective and connection and resonance with whatever field that you may be, you know, pursuing in your learning, can really be positive. And so just recognizing that honoring that, recognizing the tenacity that comes from managing, just living the lifestyle and the leadership opportunities, not only among the service members and veterans themselves, but, family members often, you know, bring lots of leadership skills into the classroom, into the academic environment. And so I think just to kind of sum it up, just to start with recognizing that this group has some really fantastic strengths that we can build on, that we can highlight, that we can feature and connect with. And with that, also just kind of recognizing that we are everywhere that, you know, even at George Mason University, I found a statistic, there's about 4, 000 students, and that doesn't even include, you know, faculty members and staff. And so just acknowledging that you're probably going to have at least a couple in whatever class you have, whatever advising list you have, and just kind of factoring it into part of what it means, you know, similar to what Dr. Bell was saying that it's a version of diversity that may not always be readily apparent just kind of, you know, looking at someone or listening to someone. And so making making a point to incorporate it into just kind of everyday practices and processes that as we're thinking about cultural responsive teaching and academics. How can we make sure that we are also including this particular group in our discussions.

Glynita: 9:47

And I did want to raise to your point, Dr. Yoho, that Mason is a military friendly institution. And it is something that we're really incredibly proud of to be a part of a university that has taken the time to go through the process to become military friendly. And I think as a part of that, the faculty here, it would be worth our time to investigate all the services that are already available to our military students. Mason has a really solid wraparound of services provided for our military students and military adjacent students. And then also to pull it down into the classroom level, as to what Dr. Page was saying around how then do we as professors make sure that our students feel seen and included in that sense of belonging Recognizing that the military culture, as wonderful as it is, can also sometimes be a little bit all consuming, as Dr. Page has mentioned, and wanting to be able to pull them into our Mason culture, and making sure that they understand that this is a space where you are seen and valued, and you absolutely do belong. We recognize your strengths, we recognize that there may be some barriers, and we are here to join with you to get you to your educational goals.

Amy: 11:00

And if I could add just another point based on what Dr. Bell was saying, I think it's also important for us as educators to recognize that everyone's had a different experience in military service or adjacent to military service, many of them wonderful, many of them challenging. People bring a lot of thoughts and perspectives, and that other students bring a lot of thoughts and perspectives as well. And so understanding just the full breadth of diversity of thought on campus and recognizing that we need to be prepared to respond accordingly, right? That there's going to be a lot of support. There's also going to be a lot of questions and opportunities to critique and learn. And just keeping that kind of in your toolkit ready to respond, just like there are many hot topics out there that we need to be ready to respond to in the moment. And this could potentially be one of them as well.

Rachel: 11:47

Yeah, absolutely. So when we're thinking about, I mean, maybe 10 percent of Mason students being perhaps directly, currently, or formerly associated with the military, plus who knows how many other students that could be in this military adjacent group that we've been discussing. When we're talking about this group, certainly this is one of the many things that we may not be able to see when we look around the classroom. Like you mentioned, Dr. Bell, you know, we might be able to see a few aspects of diversity, but there's many others that we don't see. And in particular, you know, military service or military adjacent experiences. And so we've been talking a little bit in the abstract about these groups and challenges and opportunities and strengths, but as a listener or as an instructor, what are some of the concrete steps and recommendations you have for faculty on how to promote inclusion related to military family learners?

Amy: 12:45

Wonderful question. Thank you. So I think a good way to think of it and just kind of starting to think of it is that many of the strategies that we already often used to promote inclusion can be adapted or just kind of brought in to think specifically about this population. So, you know, one example that comes to my mind, I try to express to students throughout the semester, let me know if you are encountering a challenge, you know, if you need a little extra time on an assignment, I'd rather know sooner rather than later. Right. And so, in my own approach, I can be mindful, we can be mindful if we're making that offer or a similar offer, right, for students to let us know to reach out to us sooner than later. An example could be, you know, there's lots of challenges you may be encountering it may be childcare, it may be, shifts in family life, it may be just an unexpected schedule change right, and so any of those could encompass military related situations as well, right? Because in the military, there may be particularly unique issues related to childcare, for example, service members, if they are still serving, if they are you know, told, not asked, but told to stay late at work, all of the spouse's best laid plans for childcare so they can work on their paper that evening might go out the window if there's an order from a superior officer to stay at work, just as an example. And so just kind of thinking about some examples of what students may encounter in their day to day life. So with that comes, generating a bit of a working knowledge of just some of the kind of key features of military lifestyle. Things like National Guard and Reserve are often called to respond to natural disaster or well some more than others. National Guard or Reserve may respond differently to different activities, but generally being kind of called last minute to respond to a natural disaster, for example. And so just maybe keeping in mind that if there's a hurricane in Florida or something like that that one of your students may be required to travel to assist with that or a family member of a student may be going right. And so just kind of acknowledging the impact that that can have on their timeline for completing assignments, things like that. And it can also be again, just building on things that we're already doing to promote social connections among our students. Research tells us in particular that spouses of service members often experience a sense of marginalization. And so, fostering social connections among the students, whatever that looks like in your classroom, in your modality, can be one way to make sure that students feel included and to address that potential for marginalization.

Glynita: 15:22

Just adding on to what you've said, I think that that connection is so important and we focus on that I think at Mason at large. We really are interested in our students being connected to one another as well as the faculty and building those relationships that outlast the classroom, hopefully, and move on into a professional setting. A part of that with our military families is that building that social capital outside of the military. It's quite difficult when you think about things that Dr. Page has raised from, you know, planned or scheduled moves or not planned and scheduled moves that really can put a real wrinkle in the plan to make connections with faculty and your other classmates if your life is changing really quickly. And to be fair, the things that they're focused on in the military are quite, quite important. So, some of those social connections may fall to the wayside. So I find this space that is super important for us as faculty to lead is in helping our military and military adjacent students to foster that social capital in the civilian world, right? So they may be able to do that really beautifully in the military space. But at some point, that military career will end, which is often why they are pursuing these degrees as to prepare for the end of that career. So it is so important for us to directly connect to them and to Dr. Page's point, foster those connections with students, but really with the professors. So 1 of the ways that we've talked about doing this is being very intentional and offering a evergreen letter recommendation for our military or military adjacent students. It is essentially creating a track record that this student has performed really well in your course that they've done, you know, participated in some event. But something that this student can take with them as they move on to the next school often, you're seeing our military students, military adjacent students having to complete their degrees through multiple schools. Right. But they're having something that they can take with them. That is starting to build that social capital and I think giving the confidence to, you know, say, I've done good things. I'm not starting from scratch here. I'm coming in and I am able to say, like, look, I've done this, these awesome things. And I've got a sense of confidence around that. And again, I think that really does build the true professional connection between the student and the faculty that hopefully will outlast just the classroom setting and hopefully shift into more of a mentor space.

Amy: 17:54

And then just one last thing that I think can be very straightforward and very easy to the extent that staff members and faculty members might be comfortable doing so is if they have a connection to the military in some way, just letting the students know. It could be something as simple as, you know, adding it to your CV if you have volunteered to support military or veterans in some way. If you have worked in some way with the community, right. It could be something as, kind of indirect as that, or if you are comfortable sharing a bit more directly about yourself, that can be an option as well, and that can also going back to the social connections, maintaining social capital and also letting students know that you recognize that life keeps happening, even though they're in school. Having that kind of acknowledgement that, oh this instructor, this staff member kind of gets it, you know, they have an affiliation that could maybe just make it a little bit easier for that student to reach out or to take you up on the offer or to have that courage and that boldness to connect with classmates or with you. So, that would be to me, I think that's one of the most straightforward approaches to the extent that people are comfortable doing that.

Rachel: 19:05

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, we're seeing what I would consider here a keystone concept in teaching because essentially we're looking at this, we're looking at military students, military adjacent, military family students through that lens of identity, but a varied identity and a cultural group, if you will. But again, we're seeing students coming from so many different experiences and other intersectional identities, even within that group. And so here we're really looking at this from sort of the template of how do we create an inclusive space? How do we acknowledge, how do we discuss, how do we invite students to bring their experiences and opportunities and specific skill sets into our classes and their assignments and their, you know, reports or papers or anything like that? And so the same could be said for other experiences and identities as well. And I think that's really what the keystone concept is here, that we're looking at this as a specific aspect that we can be deliberate about inclusion and belonging. So with that, I really appreciate your time. Do you have anything else that you'd like to share or say or anything else that you think our listeners might benefit from?

Amy: 20:16

Thank you for highlighting this topic.

Glynita: 20:19

Yeah, thank you so much for having us.

Rachel: 20:21

Yeah, I really appreciate it. I'm glad you were able to join us. And I'm really excited that we were able to have a topic like this. So thank you so much for listening as well. And we will, of course share our next episode-we're posting every two weeks. So please also check out our future episodes of Keystone Concepts in Teaching.