FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A newly formed University of Arkansas Veterans Task Force convened last week to begin assessing the needs of student veterans on campus, and of students who are currently serving in the military.

“The guaranteed benefits that veterans will receive for their service will enable many more men and women to pursue, or in some cases resume, a college education,” said Chancellor G. David Gearhart, who will serve as honorary chair of the task force. “We should expect to see more veterans enrolling at the University of Arkansas, and we should be prepared to meet their needs.

“I want to commend Josette Cline, Carol Altom, Mary Alice Serafini and Robert Mock for identifying this situation and proposing a plan to address it,” he said.

Josette Cline, assistant director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the Pat Walker Health Center will serve as chair of the task force.

“The 39^th Infantry Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard will be returning from Iraq some time in December or January,” said Cline. “This will represent our first large-scale opportunity to provide services to newly returning veterans in our state, and we can expect many more veterans to follow. We think an important way to prepare is for the task force to identify ways to create a ‘vet-friendly’ climate at the university. This is a very real way we can say ‘thank you’ to the men and women who have done so much to serve their country.”

The interdepartmental task force will focus on such issues as recruitment, outreach and tracking of student veterans; the coordination of financial benefits and resources; online and distance education opportunities; identifying a “single point of contact” for veterans in key offices across the university; examination of transfer of credit issues, including ACE guidelines regarding the transfer of military credits; methods to improve access to disability and mental health services for veterans, if needed; and methods to increase knowledge and interest in veterans issues across the campus.

“These are issues we can anticipate will be important to veterans, but we expect to get even more ideas from the veterans themselves. Our goal is to have a task force that can listen to veterans and identify ways to ease their transition into academic life,” Cline said

The Veterans Task Force is scheduled to make recommendations to the chancellor and executive committee at the end of February. Cline said that she does not expect those recommendations to require additional funding or new resources at the university.

“We believe most of the veterans’ needs can be met by a greater level of collaboration and cooperation among entities on our campus, so we can better coordinate services for the men and women who have served or are currently serving in any branch of the U.S. military,” she said.

Cline and Gearhart are both ex-officio members of the Governor’s Yellow Ribbon Task Force, which was created in July to address issues related to veterans returning to Arkansas following active duty, as well as the needs of aging veterans living in the state.

• Carol Altom, director, Veterans Upward Bound
• Linda Beene Ballard, dean and associate provost, Global Campus
• Josette Cline, chair, assistant director of Counseling and Psychological Services
• Vaughn DeCoster, associate professor, School of Social Work
• Inza Fort, professor of health science, kinesiology, recreation and dance
• Adrienne Gaines, student, First Year Experience
• G. David Gearhart, honorary chair, chancellor
• Karen Hodges, director of admissions
• Lori Holyfield, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice
• Anne Jannarone, director of Center for Educational Access
• Alice Lacey, registrar
• Robert Mock, assistant vice chancellor of student affairs
• Emile Phaneuf, past president of Military Past and Present on Campus
• Mary Alice Serafini, assistant vice chancellor of student affairs
• Susan Stiers, assistant director of Off Campus Connections
• David Williams, clinical assistant professor of health science, kinesiology, recreation and dance
• Kattie Wing, director of financial aid