Kent State Named Military Friendly School

Kent State University has been named a Military Friendly School by G.I. Jobs magazine for the fourth year in a row. In addition, Kent State University at Ashtabula and Kent State University at Tuscarawas also received the honors, both for the third year in a row.

G.I. Jobs is a magazine dedicated to offering helpful resources and tips to those transitioning from military service to civilian life. The magazine determines and publishes annually the top 20 percent of schools, universities and trade schools that are military friendly.

“Four years of being on the list means we are doing something right,” said Rachel Anderson, director of Kent State’s Center for Adult and Veteran Services. “Being military friendly is strategic, not accidental. We work hard to be accessible and supportive to veterans and military personnel. The entire university can be proud of this accomplishment, as it speaks to the whole experience of being a student veteran at Kent State University.”

More than 8,000 schools are reviewed by the Academic Advisory Board each year and criteria considered to make the list include the recruitment and retention of military members and veterans. The schools that made this list also offered military credit from training, scholarships and discounts to veterans who attend.

Kent State established the Center for Adult and Veteran Services in 2010, which is intended to support veterans through various programs and services. This service holds open houses for veterans and weekly Kent State Veterans Club meetings.

“The Center for Adult and Veteran Services is a one-stop shop that not only certifies VA (Veterans Affairs) benefits to help pay for tuition, but also offers other services and programs specifically for veterans,” Anderson said. “As common sense as this seems, many universities still separate these two functions. The leadership at Kent State understood the coming wave of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan to be substantial enough to combine recruitment and retention efforts with VA payments. This reduces the runaround, which can be very frustrating for adult students and veterans alike.”

The Kent State Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) also benefits from the university being named a military friendly school again.

“It shows that the student body respects the ROTC cadets and welcomes them as fellow students instead of as outsiders who wear camouflage that just happen to sometimes be in the same classes,” said Air Force ROTC Cadet Alexander Clawson, a junior communications studies major at Kent State. “Without [the student body], this school wouldn’t be a place where a military member, or one in training, would feel comfortable sitting in class in uniform or entering any of the dining halls after our activities.”

Anderson believes the support of the university has made this accomplishment possible.

“I would like to thank the entire university community for their continued support and encouragement to our service members,” Anderson said. “Our veterans continue to be impressed by the warm welcome they receive and the extra effort everyone makes to help them make a smooth transition back to college.”

Kent State will honor veterans with its annual Veterans Day observance. This year’s event takes place Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. on Risman Plaza, which is located in front of the Kent Student Center. All are invited to come and salute America’s veterans. A special invitation is extended to Kent State faculty, staff, students and community members who are veterans, active service members or who have family members in the military. Reservations are requested and can be made by contacting Joshua Rider at 330-672-0510 or jrider@kent.edu by Nov. 5.

For more information about veteran programs at Kent State, visit www.kent.edu/veterans. For more information about Kent State’s Center for Adult and Veteran Services, visit www.kent.edu/cavs. For more information about the Military Friendly Schools list, visit www.militaryfriendlyschools.com.