Wright State honored for innovative support of veteran and military-connected students

Wright State University President Sue Edwards, Seth Gordon, director of the Veteran and Military Center, and Mike Duffey, chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, at the Military-Connected Student Symposium, hosted by the Inter-University Council of Ohio.

Wright State University and its Veteran and Military Center were recognized for creating impactful programming for military-connected students by the National Veterans Leadership Foundation.

Wright State received an Excellence in Programming for Military-Connected Students Award at the Military-Connected Student Symposium, hosted by the Inter-University Council of Ohio, in partnership with the National Veterans Leadership Foundation, the Ohio Association of Community Colleges and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio.

“We are heartened by the National Veteran Leadership Foundation’s recognition of the programming and work that we have done to expand the Veteran and Military Center these past two years,” said Seth Gordon, Ph.D., director of the Veteran and Military Center. “As we consider the future, we are looking for ways that we can support all military-connected students associated with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and to shift our program to be more inclusive of military spouses and dependents.”

Wright State and the Veteran and Military Center were honored in part for creating the Captain Shawn L. English Champions Garden and its Student Champion program, which trains faculty, staff, and students to work with veterans and military-connected students.

Created around the VMC’s motto of “We are each other’s champion,” the garden celebrates those who support — or champion — veterans, including other veterans, family members, faculty, staff and those who work with them.

The Champion Garden is named in honor of Shawn English, a 1999 Wright State Army ROTC graduate who was killed in action in Iraq in 2006. A bench in the garden memorializes Christopher Roche II, a Navy veteran who worked in the Veteran and Military Center as a student and died in 2020.

“Honoring Captain English provided a direct connection with graduates of the Raider Battalion and our Veteran and Military Alumni Society,” Gordon said.

Dedicated in 2023, the garden also provides a backdrop for the Veterans Voices Project, an oral history and storytelling project sponsored by the VMC. Dog tags hang from a pergola with names and QR codes that link to oral histories of over 100 local veterans who shared their stories with Wright State.

“The end result is welcoming space with comfortable high-end furniture, a cornhole court with molded cement cornhole boards, and signage that invite all members of campus to sit surrounded by the names and stories of those who have served us all,” Gordon said. “In this way we have elevated the presence and support for our current and former service members and their families by creating a public resource for the campus.”

The National Veteran Leadership Foundation recognized Wright State’s Veteran and Military Center for the Captain Shawn L. English Champions Garden, named in Shawn English, a 1999 Wright State Army ROTC graduate who was killed in action in Iraq in 2006.

The Veteran and Military Center’s Student Champion Program is a co-curricular training program for faculty, staff and students.

Inspired by Wright State’s Health and Wellness Task Force, the program provides training across four key areas: military culture, mental health challenges, suicide prevention and Mental Health First Aid.

Led in part by student veterans, the initiative aims to give Wright State community members tools to support veterans, military-connected students and their families, while promoting a shared responsibility for their success.

Other recently established initiatives led by the Veteran and Military Center include sponsoring Deployed Family Dinners at the USO at WPAFB, the Military Community Advocacy Program and the Veteran Empowerment Transition Initiative Team.

Since it opened in 2013, the VMC has focused on creating a sense of belonging for student-veterans and military-connected students. About 700 veteran and military-connected students are enrolled at Wright State.

“The primary hope from the VMC is to provide support so that the veterans feel like they belong at Wright State, to support their academic and professional success, and to provide an environment where they can make friends,” Gordon said.