Florida Congresswoman Lois Frankel, D-22, was recently on NSU’s main campus to research the wide array of services the university provides our student veterans. Congresswoman Frankel is planning to incorporate some of the information in her bill proposing funding for campus resource centers similar to that at NSU.
Frankel was greeted at the NSU Veterans Resource Center by NSU Chancellor Ray Ferrero, Jr., J.D., Dean Kimberly Durham, Psy.D, of The Institute for the Study of Human Service, Health and Justice, Susanne Marshall, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean, and Jayme Cassidy, J.D., staff attorney at the Veterans Law Clinic at the Shepard Broad Law Center. Also on hand was NSU alumni, Fred Roger, Executive Director of The Veterans Trust, and Jared Link 2nd Lt. USAF, BSC, a Psy.D. candidate in neuropsychology concentration.
Congresswoman Frankel, whose son served as a Marine in the Middle East, said she would like to establish funding at all colleges and universities for veterans services such as counseling and job placement, along with the creation of veterans resource centers. “The operative idea is for a regional, networked approach,” she said, “with an accounting of the results.”
Chancellor Ferrero pointed out that NSU is a very active partner in Mission United, where he serves on the executive committee, which is run by Broward County United Way and is a critical program supporting military service members, veterans, and their families with issues of acclimation to civilian life. He said providing support services to NSU’s more than 1,000 student veterans is a priority for the university.
“Most of our veterans come here reluctant to speak out and they keep to themselves,” said Chancellor Ferrero. “That’s why we established this support center.” Veterans Trust Executive Director Roger agreed, “When I came home four years ago from Fallujah to Fort Lauderdale, my family asked my why I had changed so much. It takes peer support, just as we had the buddy system in them military, to adjust.
Dean Durham told Congresswoman Frankel that the university offers a comprehensive package of services to our student veterans. She said NSU offers veterans tutoring, career development, psychological services, legal services, family therapy, scholarships and more.
The NSU administrators and Rogers agree they would work with Congresswoman Frankel’s office on her bill for funding and regional coordination of college and university and college veteran resource centers.