February 19, 2025 • 20 mins
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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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rachel (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Keystone Concepts in Teaching, a
higher education podcast fromthe Stearns Center for Teaching
and Learning, where we shareimpactful and evidence based
teaching practices to supportall students and faculty.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho, andtoday I'm joined by two faculty
from George Mason University.
I'm joined by Dr.
(00:29):
Glynita Bell.
She's an Assistant Professor inthe Department of Social Work in
the College of Public Health.
And I'm also joined by Dr.
Amy Preston Page, who's also anAssistant Professor in the
Department of Social Work.
So thank you both so much forjoining us today.
Glynita (00:44):
Thank you for having us.
Amy (00:45):
Yes, thank you for having me.
Rachel (00:47):
So as we get started for today, we want to look at our
community and especially ourcommunity at Mason and at other
institutions, perhaps.
And we want to talk aboutsupporting military and military
adjacent students.
So when we're talking aboutsupporting these audiences,
military and military adjacentstudents, what does this mean
(01:09):
exactly?
Can you tell us a little bitmore about this group and what
this means in higher education?
Amy (01:16):
Yes, thank you for asking.
So, it's important to understandthat there is a broader
category, as you said, ofmilitary students, as well as
military adjacent students.
So many of us may think ofmilitary students, we may think
of students who are still, youknow, in the military directly,
whether that be on active dutyor serving in the National Guard
(01:37):
or Reserve.
It also can relate to studentswho have prior service.
So those who are veterans andeither, you know, left service
at some point in their career,or maybe they served a full term
of service typically considered20 years and they've officially
retired from the military.
So those would be the studentswho I would say are the military
students.
And the military adjacentstudents would include basically
(02:00):
anyone who is connected to thatperson.
So it could be someone who ismarried to a current or former
service member or a lifepartner.
It could be the grown childrenof service members.
So they maybe have grown upliving in the military lifestyle
and now they're out on their ownin college or in grad school.
It can also be sometimes it canbe parents or caregivers.
(02:21):
So really it can be a reallybroad umbrella that encompasses
anyone with some sort ofaffiliation with the military.
Glynita (02:27):
And I think what's so important about what Dr.
Page just described is we haveto make sure we're being
inclusive when we think aboutdiverse groups of learners to
include military and militaryadjacent families and be very
conscious that they're all overthe place.
So Dr.
Page and myself are bothmilitary adjacent in our
experiences.
Rachel (02:47):
I think that's such a great point because we might be
thinking about especially atveteran friendly veteran
supporting institutions, thoseindividuals, but thinking about
the other people.
And it's such a diverse groupacross different experiences and
not just identities, but alsowhere they're at currently for
taking classes or something likethat.
(03:08):
And so when we're thinking aboutsuch a wide range and a varied
group, can you tell us brieflyabout some of the challenges or
maybe some of the specificskills, if we're taking a little
bit more of a positive look atthis for members of this group
and the varied members of thisgroup.
Amy (03:25):
Yes, thank you.
So, in many ways, some of thechallenges faced by this group,
can have a good bit of overlapwith challenges faced by really
any student group, but there aresome unique characteristics just
based on the nature of thelifestyle that can manifest a
little bit differently.
So, one thing that mayimmediately come to mind, you
know, for anyone who thinks ofmilitary might be moving around
(03:46):
a lot.
And that is definitely somethingthat does happen, particularly
for those who are serving or areconnected to the active duty
population.
Those are the ones who typicallythey 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 ofthumb for thinking about the
number of relocations.
That's not to say, you know,many students move a lot, right,
(04:07):
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 thathappens a lot, right.
And so people know that theyplan around it.
And at the same time you canknow it's coming and you can
plan and speaking fromexperience here sometimes things
change quickly at the lastminute, or, you know, just lots
(04:28):
of adaptability, which is astrength that will come to in
just a moment.
Another challenge that canmanifest in a unique way with
this group and I would say thiscuts across all all areas of
service active duty, NationalGuard, reserve is this concept
of transition and cultureshifts.
And that's both transitioninginto the culture and
transitioning out of the cultureand then at different points
(04:50):
within as well.
So just an example, there's afamous paper out there that
refers to the, the military as agreedy institution, meaning that
it's a really, a very allencompassing lifestyle.
And with that comes manybenefits and many wonderful
things about the lifestyle.
And it does bring somechallenges, particularly in
terms of, this can really becomea really core aspect of a
(05:12):
person's sense of identity andsense of self.
And it can also be reallyremoved from their sense of
identity and sense of self rightand so the nature of both of
those approaches can createchallenges if someone is moving
into or out of the military as aculture, just kind of with any
big major life transition,there's great things about it
and then there's somechallenges.
And then another thing that wethink of in terms of challenges,
(05:35):
really relates to just theongoing impacts of service.
Many listeners may be familiarwith military deployments,
military sexual trauma.
Those are certainly things thatwe need to be mindful of and can
have effects, not only on theindividual who is directly
affected, but reverberatingeffects out, you know, into
their broader communities.
I'll pause there in case Dr.
(05:56):
Bell wants to add anything aboutchallenges.
Glynita (05:59):
I think you covered it and I think it's just again, so
important to make that tangibleto our classroom settings and
being really mindful of theexperiences that our students
are bringing into the room withthem.
Right?
As we talk about just beingreally engaged with the idea
that our students have a diversebackground that they're bringing
into our classroom that reallycan enrich the classroom
(06:20):
experience.
So really leaning into that andinviting our military students
and military adjacent studentsto share their rich life
experiences as it relates to ourcourse topics.
I think that we have the luxuryto very often visually see what
diversity is in our classrooms.
Typically, right?
You can scan a room and see thatthere are male and females and
(06:42):
scan a room and see some ethnicdiversity.
You can't always see that withour military students or the
military adjacent students.
So it's just so important to bemindful of these challenges as
well as the strengths that Dr.
Page highlighted because therichness and the fullness of the
lives that have been lived addsso much to the course content.
Rachel (07:04):
That's a great point.
And so when we're thinking abouthow 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 asindividual instructors from sort
of that like military friendly,which hopefully we are, to a
(07:27):
little bit more inclusiveclassrooms and teaching
practices.
So maybe a bit more militaryinclusive, military supportive,
rather than just friendly.
Amy (07:37):
Thank you.
It's such an important question.
So I think building on what Dr.
Bell was just saying, I think alot of it really comes down to
starting with strengths.
Starting with recognizing allthe many wonderful
characteristics that thispopulation has just by nature of
being a student.
That's just a wonderful thing tobe a student.
And then some specific aspectsrelated to the lifestyle kind of
(07:59):
oftentimes drawn from thechallenges that then turn into
strengths like what Dr.
Bell was saying about that senseof perspective, the rich life
experiences that Dr.
Bell mentioned, you know,sometimes living all over the
world or just having a reallydeep, literal sense of how
global events are very present,you know, in day to day life,
(08:20):
sometimes even in their ownhomes.
Right.
And so I think that is a senseof perspective and connection
and resonance with whateverfield that you may be, you know,
pursuing in your learning, canreally be positive.
And so just recognizing thathonoring that, recognizing the
tenacity that comes frommanaging, just living the
lifestyle and the leadershipopportunities, not only among
(08:42):
the service members and veteransthemselves, but, family members
often, you know, bring lots ofleadership skills into the
classroom, into the academicenvironment.
And so I think just to kind ofsum it up, just to start with
recognizing that this group hassome really fantastic strengths
that we can build on, that wecan highlight, that we can
feature and connect with.
And with that, also just kind ofrecognizing that we are
(09:05):
everywhere that, you know, evenat George Mason University, I
found a statistic, there's about4, 000 students, and that
doesn't even include, you know,faculty members and staff.
And so just acknowledging thatyou're probably going to have at
least a couple in whatever classyou have, whatever advising list
you have, and just kind offactoring it into part of what
it means, you know, similar towhat Dr.
(09:25):
Bell was saying that it's aversion of diversity that may
not always be readily apparentjust kind of, you know, looking
at someone or listening tosomeone.
And so making making a point toincorporate it into just kind of
everyday practices and processesthat as we're thinking about
cultural responsive teaching andacademics.
How can we make sure that we arealso including this particular
(09:45):
group in our discussions.
Glynita (09:47):
And I did want to raise to your point, Dr.
Yoho, that Mason is a militaryfriendly institution.
And it is something that we'rereally incredibly proud of to be
a part of a university that hastaken the time to go through the
process to become militaryfriendly.
And I think as a part of that,the faculty here, it would be
(10:08):
worth our time to investigateall the services that are
already available to ourmilitary students.
Mason has a really solidwraparound of services provided
for our military students andmilitary adjacent students.
And then also to pull it downinto the classroom level, as to
what Dr.
Page was saying around how thendo we as professors make sure
(10:29):
that our students feel seen andincluded in that sense of
belonging Recognizing that themilitary culture, as wonderful
as it is, can also sometimes bea little bit all consuming, as
Dr.
Page has mentioned, and wantingto be able to pull them into our
Mason culture, and making surethat they understand that this
is a space where you are seenand valued, and you absolutely
(10:50):
do belong.
We recognize your strengths, werecognize that there may be some
barriers, and we are here tojoin 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'salso important for us as
educators to recognize thateveryone's had a different
experience in military serviceor adjacent to military service,
many of them wonderful, many ofthem challenging.
People bring a lot of thoughtsand perspectives, and that other
students bring a lot of thoughtsand perspectives as well.
(11:20):
And so understanding just thefull breadth of diversity of
thought on campus andrecognizing that we need to be
prepared to respond accordingly,right?
That there's going to be a lotof support.
There's also going to be a lotof questions and opportunities
to critique and learn.
And just keeping that kind of inyour toolkit ready to respond,
just like there are many hottopics out there that we need to
(11:41):
be ready to respond to in themoment.
And this could potentially beone of them as well.
Rachel (11:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
So when we're thinking about, Imean, 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 thismilitary adjacent group that
we've been discussing.
When we're talking about thisgroup, certainly this is one of
the many things that we may notbe able to see when we look
(12:10):
around the classroom.
Like you mentioned, Dr.
Bell, you know, we might be ableto see a few aspects of
diversity, but there's manyothers that we don't see.
And in particular, you know,military service or military
adjacent experiences.
And so we've been talking alittle bit in the abstract about
these groups and challenges andopportunities and strengths, but
(12:31):
as a listener or as aninstructor, what are some of the
concrete steps andrecommendations you have for
faculty on how to promoteinclusion related to military
family learners?
Amy (12:45):
Wonderful question.
Thank you.
So I think a good way to thinkof it and just kind of starting
to think of it is that many ofthe strategies that we already
often used to promote inclusioncan be adapted or just kind of
brought in to think specificallyabout this population.
So, you know, one example thatcomes to my mind, I try to
express to students throughoutthe semester, let me know if you
(13:09):
are encountering a challenge,you know, if you need a little
extra time on an assignment, I'drather know sooner rather than
later.
Right.
And so, in my own approach, Ican be mindful, we can be
mindful if we're making thatoffer or a similar offer, right,
for students to let us know toreach out to us sooner than
later.
An example could be, you know,there's lots of challenges you
(13:29):
may be encountering it may bechildcare, it may be, shifts in
family life, it may be just anunexpected schedule change
right, and so any of those couldencompass military related
situations as well, right?
Because in the military, theremay be particularly unique
issues related to childcare, forexample, service members, if
(13:50):
they are still serving, if theyare you know, told, not asked,
but told to stay late at work,all of the spouse's best laid
plans for childcare so they canwork on their paper that evening
might go out the window ifthere's an order from a superior
officer to stay at work, just asan example.
And so just kind of thinkingabout some examples of what
(14:11):
students may encounter in theirday to day life.
So with that comes, generating abit of a working knowledge of
just some of the kind of keyfeatures of military lifestyle.
Things like National Guard andReserve are often called to
respond to natural disaster orwell some more than others.
National Guard or Reserve mayrespond differently to different
activities, but generally beingkind of called last minute to
(14:33):
respond to a natural disaster,for example.
And so just maybe keeping inmind that if there's a hurricane
in Florida or something likethat that one of your students
may be required to travel toassist with that or a family
member of a student may be goingright.
And so just kind ofacknowledging the impact that
that can have on their timelinefor completing assignments,
(14:54):
things like that.
And it can also be again, justbuilding on things that we're
already doing to promote socialconnections among our students.
Research tells us in particularthat spouses of service members
often experience a sense ofmarginalization.
And so, fostering socialconnections among the students,
whatever that looks like in yourclassroom, in your modality, can
(15:15):
be one way to make sure thatstudents feel included and to
address that potential formarginalization.
Glynita (15:22):
Just adding on to what you've said, I think that that
connection is so important andwe focus on that I think at
Mason at large.
We really are interested in ourstudents being connected to one
another as well as the facultyand building those relationships
that outlast the classroom,hopefully, and move on into a
professional setting.
(15:43):
A part of that with our militaryfamilies is that building that
social capital outside of themilitary.
It's quite difficult when youthink about things that Dr.
Page has raised from, you know,planned or scheduled moves or
not planned and scheduled movesthat really can put a real
wrinkle in the plan to makeconnections with faculty and
(16:05):
your other classmates if yourlife is changing really quickly.
And to be fair, the things thatthey're focused on in the
military are quite, quiteimportant.
So, some of those socialconnections may fall to the
wayside.
So I find this space that issuper important for us as
faculty to lead is in helpingour military and military
(16:25):
adjacent students to foster thatsocial capital in the civilian
world, right?
So they may be able to do thatreally beautifully in the
military space.
But at some point, that militarycareer will end, which is often
why they are pursuing thesedegrees as to prepare for the
end of that career.
So it is so important for us todirectly connect to them and to
(16:46):
Dr.
Page's point, foster thoseconnections with students, but
really with the professors.
So 1 of the ways that we'vetalked about doing this is being
very intentional and offering aevergreen letter recommendation
for our military or militaryadjacent students.
It is essentially creating atrack record that this student
(17:09):
has performed really well inyour course that they've done,
you know, participated in someevent.
But something that this studentcan take with them as they move
on to the next school often,you're seeing our military
students, military adjacentstudents having to complete
their degrees through multipleschools.
Right.
But they're having somethingthat they can take with them.
That is starting to build thatsocial capital and I think
(17:32):
giving the confidence to, youknow, say, I've done good
things.
I'm not starting from scratchhere.
I'm coming in and I am able tosay, like, look, I've done this,
these awesome things.
And I've got a sense ofconfidence around that.
And again, I think that reallydoes build the true professional
connection between the studentand the faculty that hopefully
will outlast just the classroomsetting and hopefully shift into
(17:52):
more of a mentor space.
Amy (17:54):
And then just one last thing that I think can be very
straightforward and very easy tothe extent that staff members
and faculty members might becomfortable doing so is if they
have a connection to themilitary in some way, just
letting the students know.
It could be something as simpleas, you know, adding it to your
CV if you have volunteered tosupport military or veterans in
(18:16):
some way.
If you have worked in some waywith the community, right.
It could be something as, kindof indirect as that, or if you
are comfortable sharing a bitmore 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 thatyou recognize that life keeps
(18:37):
happening, even though they'rein school.
Having that kind ofacknowledgement that, oh this
instructor, this staff memberkind of gets it, you know, they
have an affiliation that couldmaybe just make it a little bit
easier for that student to reachout or to take you up on the
offer or to have that courageand that boldness to connect
with classmates or with you.
(18:57):
So, that would be to me, I thinkthat's one of the most
straightforward approaches tothe extent that people are
comfortable doing that.
Rachel (19:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think, you know, we're seeingwhat I would consider here a
keystone concept in teachingbecause essentially we're
looking at this, we're lookingat military students, military
adjacent, military familystudents through that lens of
identity, but a varied identityand a cultural group, if you
will.
But again, we're seeing studentscoming from so many different
(19:26):
experiences and otherintersectional identities, even
within that group.
And so here we're really lookingat this from sort of the
template of how do we create aninclusive space?
How do we acknowledge, how do wediscuss, how do we invite
students to bring theirexperiences and opportunities
and specific skill sets into ourclasses and their assignments
(19:49):
and their, you know, reports orpapers or anything like that?
And so the same could be saidfor other experiences and
identities as well.
And I think that's really whatthe keystone concept is here,
that we're looking at this as aspecific aspect that we can be
deliberate about inclusion andbelonging.
So with that, I reallyappreciate your time.
(20:10):
Do you have anything else thatyou'd like to share or say or
anything else that you think ourlisteners 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 joinus.
And I'm really excited that wewere able to have a topic like
this.
So thank you so much forlistening as well.
And we will, of course share ournext episode-we're posting every
two weeks.
So please also check out ourfuture episodes of Keystone
Concepts in Teaching.
Hello, and welcome to Keystone Concepts in Teaching, a
higher education podcast fromthe Stearns Center for Teaching
and Learning, where we shareimpactful and evidence based
teaching practices to supportall students and faculty.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho, andtoday I'm joined by two faculty
from George Mason University.
I'm joined by Dr.
(00:29):
Glynita Bell.
She's an Assistant Professor inthe Department of Social Work in
the College of Public Health.
And I'm also joined by Dr.
Amy Preston Page, who's also anAssistant Professor in the
Department of Social Work.
So thank you both so much forjoining us today.
Glynita (00:44):
Thank you for having us.
Amy (00:45):
Yes, thank you for having me.
Rachel (00:47):
So as we get started for today, we want to look at our
community and especially ourcommunity at Mason and at other
institutions, perhaps.
And we want to talk aboutsupporting military and military
adjacent students.
So when we're talking aboutsupporting these audiences,
military and military adjacentstudents, what does this mean
(01:09):
exactly?
Can you tell us a little bitmore about this group and what
this means in higher education?
Amy (01:16):
Yes, thank you for asking.
So, it's important to understandthat there is a broader
category, as you said, ofmilitary students, as well as
military adjacent students.
So many of us may think ofmilitary students, we may think
of students who are still, youknow, in the military directly,
whether that be on active dutyor serving in the National Guard
(01:37):
or Reserve.
It also can relate to studentswho have prior service.
So those who are veterans andeither, you know, left service
at some point in their career,or maybe they served a full term
of service typically considered20 years and they've officially
retired from the military.
So those would be the studentswho I would say are the military
students.
And the military adjacentstudents would include basically
(02:00):
anyone who is connected to thatperson.
So it could be someone who ismarried to a current or former
service member or a lifepartner.
It could be the grown childrenof service members.
So they maybe have grown upliving in the military lifestyle
and now they're out on their ownin college or in grad school.
It can also be sometimes it canbe parents or caregivers.
(02:21):
So really it can be a reallybroad umbrella that encompasses
anyone with some sort ofaffiliation with the military.
Glynita (02:27):
And I think what's so important about what Dr.
Page just described is we haveto make sure we're being
inclusive when we think aboutdiverse groups of learners to
include military and militaryadjacent families and be very
conscious that they're all overthe place.
So Dr.
Page and myself are bothmilitary adjacent in our
experiences.
Rachel (02:47):
I think that's such a great point because we might be
thinking about especially atveteran friendly veteran
supporting institutions, thoseindividuals, but thinking about
the other people.
And it's such a diverse groupacross different experiences and
not just identities, but alsowhere they're at currently for
taking classes or something likethat.
(03:08):
And so when we're thinking aboutsuch a wide range and a varied
group, can you tell us brieflyabout some of the challenges or
maybe some of the specificskills, if we're taking a little
bit more of a positive look atthis for members of this group
and the varied members of thisgroup.
Amy (03:25):
Yes, thank you.
So, in many ways, some of thechallenges faced by this group,
can have a good bit of overlapwith challenges faced by really
any student group, but there aresome unique characteristics just
based on the nature of thelifestyle that can manifest a
little bit differently.
So, one thing that mayimmediately come to mind, you
know, for anyone who thinks ofmilitary might be moving around
(03:46):
a lot.
And that is definitely somethingthat does happen, particularly
for those who are serving or areconnected to the active duty
population.
Those are the ones who typicallythey 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 ofthumb for thinking about the
number of relocations.
That's not to say, you know,many students move a lot, right,
(04:07):
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 thathappens a lot, right.
And so people know that theyplan around it.
And at the same time you canknow it's coming and you can
plan and speaking fromexperience here sometimes things
change quickly at the lastminute, or, you know, just lots
(04:28):
of adaptability, which is astrength that will come to in
just a moment.
Another challenge that canmanifest in a unique way with
this group and I would say thiscuts across all all areas of
service active duty, NationalGuard, reserve is this concept
of transition and cultureshifts.
And that's both transitioninginto the culture and
transitioning out of the cultureand then at different points
(04:50):
within as well.
So just an example, there's afamous paper out there that
refers to the, the military as agreedy institution, meaning that
it's a really, a very allencompassing lifestyle.
And with that comes manybenefits and many wonderful
things about the lifestyle.
And it does bring somechallenges, particularly in
terms of, this can really becomea really core aspect of a
(05:12):
person's sense of identity andsense of self.
And it can also be reallyremoved from their sense of
identity and sense of self rightand so the nature of both of
those approaches can createchallenges if someone is moving
into or out of the military as aculture, just kind of with any
big major life transition,there's great things about it
and then there's somechallenges.
And then another thing that wethink of in terms of challenges,
(05:35):
really relates to just theongoing impacts of service.
Many listeners may be familiarwith military deployments,
military sexual trauma.
Those are certainly things thatwe need to be mindful of and can
have effects, not only on theindividual who is directly
affected, but reverberatingeffects out, you know, into
their broader communities.
I'll pause there in case Dr.
(05:56):
Bell wants to add anything aboutchallenges.
Glynita (05:59):
I think you covered it and I think it's just again, so
important to make that tangibleto our classroom settings and
being really mindful of theexperiences that our students
are bringing into the room withthem.
Right?
As we talk about just beingreally engaged with the idea
that our students have a diversebackground that they're bringing
into our classroom that reallycan enrich the classroom
(06:20):
experience.
So really leaning into that andinviting our military students
and military adjacent studentsto share their rich life
experiences as it relates to ourcourse topics.
I think that we have the luxuryto very often visually see what
diversity is in our classrooms.
Typically, right?
You can scan a room and see thatthere are male and females and
(06:42):
scan a room and see some ethnicdiversity.
You can't always see that withour military students or the
military adjacent students.
So it's just so important to bemindful of these challenges as
well as the strengths that Dr.
Page highlighted because therichness and the fullness of the
lives that have been lived addsso much to the course content.
Rachel (07:04):
That's a great point.
And so when we're thinking abouthow 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 asindividual instructors from sort
of that like military friendly,which hopefully we are, to a
(07:27):
little bit more inclusiveclassrooms and teaching
practices.
So maybe a bit more militaryinclusive, military supportive,
rather than just friendly.
Amy (07:37):
Thank you.
It's such an important question.
So I think building on what Dr.
Bell was just saying, I think alot of it really comes down to
starting with strengths.
Starting with recognizing allthe many wonderful
characteristics that thispopulation has just by nature of
being a student.
That's just a wonderful thing tobe a student.
And then some specific aspectsrelated to the lifestyle kind of
(07:59):
oftentimes drawn from thechallenges that then turn into
strengths like what Dr.
Bell was saying about that senseof perspective, the rich life
experiences that Dr.
Bell mentioned, you know,sometimes living all over the
world or just having a reallydeep, literal sense of how
global events are very present,you know, in day to day life,
(08:20):
sometimes even in their ownhomes.
Right.
And so I think that is a senseof perspective and connection
and resonance with whateverfield that you may be, you know,
pursuing in your learning, canreally be positive.
And so just recognizing thathonoring that, recognizing the
tenacity that comes frommanaging, just living the
lifestyle and the leadershipopportunities, not only among
(08:42):
the service members and veteransthemselves, but, family members
often, you know, bring lots ofleadership skills into the
classroom, into the academicenvironment.
And so I think just to kind ofsum it up, just to start with
recognizing that this group hassome really fantastic strengths
that we can build on, that wecan highlight, that we can
feature and connect with.
And with that, also just kind ofrecognizing that we are
(09:05):
everywhere that, you know, evenat George Mason University, I
found a statistic, there's about4, 000 students, and that
doesn't even include, you know,faculty members and staff.
And so just acknowledging thatyou're probably going to have at
least a couple in whatever classyou have, whatever advising list
you have, and just kind offactoring it into part of what
it means, you know, similar towhat Dr.
(09:25):
Bell was saying that it's aversion of diversity that may
not always be readily apparentjust kind of, you know, looking
at someone or listening tosomeone.
And so making making a point toincorporate it into just kind of
everyday practices and processesthat as we're thinking about
cultural responsive teaching andacademics.
How can we make sure that we arealso including this particular
(09:45):
group in our discussions.
Glynita (09:47):
And I did want to raise to your point, Dr.
Yoho, that Mason is a militaryfriendly institution.
And it is something that we'rereally incredibly proud of to be
a part of a university that hastaken the time to go through the
process to become militaryfriendly.
And I think as a part of that,the faculty here, it would be
(10:08):
worth our time to investigateall the services that are
already available to ourmilitary students.
Mason has a really solidwraparound of services provided
for our military students andmilitary adjacent students.
And then also to pull it downinto the classroom level, as to
what Dr.
Page was saying around how thendo we as professors make sure
(10:29):
that our students feel seen andincluded in that sense of
belonging Recognizing that themilitary culture, as wonderful
as it is, can also sometimes bea little bit all consuming, as
Dr.
Page has mentioned, and wantingto be able to pull them into our
Mason culture, and making surethat they understand that this
is a space where you are seenand valued, and you absolutely
(10:50):
do belong.
We recognize your strengths, werecognize that there may be some
barriers, and we are here tojoin 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'salso important for us as
educators to recognize thateveryone's had a different
experience in military serviceor adjacent to military service,
many of them wonderful, many ofthem challenging.
People bring a lot of thoughtsand perspectives, and that other
students bring a lot of thoughtsand perspectives as well.
(11:20):
And so understanding just thefull breadth of diversity of
thought on campus andrecognizing that we need to be
prepared to respond accordingly,right?
That there's going to be a lotof support.
There's also going to be a lotof questions and opportunities
to critique and learn.
And just keeping that kind of inyour toolkit ready to respond,
just like there are many hottopics out there that we need to
(11:41):
be ready to respond to in themoment.
And this could potentially beone of them as well.
Rachel (11:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
So when we're thinking about, Imean, 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 thismilitary adjacent group that
we've been discussing.
When we're talking about thisgroup, certainly this is one of
the many things that we may notbe able to see when we look
(12:10):
around the classroom.
Like you mentioned, Dr.
Bell, you know, we might be ableto see a few aspects of
diversity, but there's manyothers that we don't see.
And in particular, you know,military service or military
adjacent experiences.
And so we've been talking alittle bit in the abstract about
these groups and challenges andopportunities and strengths, but
(12:31):
as a listener or as aninstructor, what are some of the
concrete steps andrecommendations you have for
faculty on how to promoteinclusion related to military
family learners?
Amy (12:45):
Wonderful question.
Thank you.
So I think a good way to thinkof it and just kind of starting
to think of it is that many ofthe strategies that we already
often used to promote inclusioncan be adapted or just kind of
brought in to think specificallyabout this population.
So, you know, one example thatcomes to my mind, I try to
express to students throughoutthe semester, let me know if you
(13:09):
are encountering a challenge,you know, if you need a little
extra time on an assignment, I'drather know sooner rather than
later.
Right.
And so, in my own approach, Ican be mindful, we can be
mindful if we're making thatoffer or a similar offer, right,
for students to let us know toreach out to us sooner than
later.
An example could be, you know,there's lots of challenges you
(13:29):
may be encountering it may bechildcare, it may be, shifts in
family life, it may be just anunexpected schedule change
right, and so any of those couldencompass military related
situations as well, right?
Because in the military, theremay be particularly unique
issues related to childcare, forexample, service members, if
(13:50):
they are still serving, if theyare you know, told, not asked,
but told to stay late at work,all of the spouse's best laid
plans for childcare so they canwork on their paper that evening
might go out the window ifthere's an order from a superior
officer to stay at work, just asan example.
And so just kind of thinkingabout some examples of what
(14:11):
students may encounter in theirday to day life.
So with that comes, generating abit of a working knowledge of
just some of the kind of keyfeatures of military lifestyle.
Things like National Guard andReserve are often called to
respond to natural disaster orwell some more than others.
National Guard or Reserve mayrespond differently to different
activities, but generally beingkind of called last minute to
(14:33):
respond to a natural disaster,for example.
And so just maybe keeping inmind that if there's a hurricane
in Florida or something likethat that one of your students
may be required to travel toassist with that or a family
member of a student may be goingright.
And so just kind ofacknowledging the impact that
that can have on their timelinefor completing assignments,
(14:54):
things like that.
And it can also be again, justbuilding on things that we're
already doing to promote socialconnections among our students.
Research tells us in particularthat spouses of service members
often experience a sense ofmarginalization.
And so, fostering socialconnections among the students,
whatever that looks like in yourclassroom, in your modality, can
(15:15):
be one way to make sure thatstudents feel included and to
address that potential formarginalization.
Glynita (15:22):
Just adding on to what you've said, I think that that
connection is so important andwe focus on that I think at
Mason at large.
We really are interested in ourstudents being connected to one
another as well as the facultyand building those relationships
that outlast the classroom,hopefully, and move on into a
professional setting.
(15:43):
A part of that with our militaryfamilies is that building that
social capital outside of themilitary.
It's quite difficult when youthink about things that Dr.
Page has raised from, you know,planned or scheduled moves or
not planned and scheduled movesthat really can put a real
wrinkle in the plan to makeconnections with faculty and
(16:05):
your other classmates if yourlife is changing really quickly.
And to be fair, the things thatthey're focused on in the
military are quite, quiteimportant.
So, some of those socialconnections may fall to the
wayside.
So I find this space that issuper important for us as
faculty to lead is in helpingour military and military
(16:25):
adjacent students to foster thatsocial capital in the civilian
world, right?
So they may be able to do thatreally beautifully in the
military space.
But at some point, that militarycareer will end, which is often
why they are pursuing thesedegrees as to prepare for the
end of that career.
So it is so important for us todirectly connect to them and to
(16:46):
Dr.
Page's point, foster thoseconnections with students, but
really with the professors.
So 1 of the ways that we'vetalked about doing this is being
very intentional and offering aevergreen letter recommendation
for our military or militaryadjacent students.
It is essentially creating atrack record that this student
(17:09):
has performed really well inyour course that they've done,
you know, participated in someevent.
But something that this studentcan take with them as they move
on to the next school often,you're seeing our military
students, military adjacentstudents having to complete
their degrees through multipleschools.
Right.
But they're having somethingthat they can take with them.
That is starting to build thatsocial capital and I think
(17:32):
giving the confidence to, youknow, say, I've done good
things.
I'm not starting from scratchhere.
I'm coming in and I am able tosay, like, look, I've done this,
these awesome things.
And I've got a sense ofconfidence around that.
And again, I think that reallydoes build the true professional
connection between the studentand the faculty that hopefully
will outlast just the classroomsetting and hopefully shift into
(17:52):
more of a mentor space.
Amy (17:54):
And then just one last thing that I think can be very
straightforward and very easy tothe extent that staff members
and faculty members might becomfortable doing so is if they
have a connection to themilitary in some way, just
letting the students know.
It could be something as simpleas, you know, adding it to your
CV if you have volunteered tosupport military or veterans in
(18:16):
some way.
If you have worked in some waywith the community, right.
It could be something as, kindof indirect as that, or if you
are comfortable sharing a bitmore 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 thatyou recognize that life keeps
(18:37):
happening, even though they'rein school.
Having that kind ofacknowledgement that, oh this
instructor, this staff memberkind of gets it, you know, they
have an affiliation that couldmaybe just make it a little bit
easier for that student to reachout or to take you up on the
offer or to have that courageand that boldness to connect
with classmates or with you.
(18:57):
So, that would be to me, I thinkthat's one of the most
straightforward approaches tothe extent that people are
comfortable doing that.
Rachel (19:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think, you know, we're seeingwhat I would consider here a
keystone concept in teachingbecause essentially we're
looking at this, we're lookingat military students, military
adjacent, military familystudents through that lens of
identity, but a varied identityand a cultural group, if you
will.
But again, we're seeing studentscoming from so many different
(19:26):
experiences and otherintersectional identities, even
within that group.
And so here we're really lookingat this from sort of the
template of how do we create aninclusive space?
How do we acknowledge, how do wediscuss, how do we invite
students to bring theirexperiences and opportunities
and specific skill sets into ourclasses and their assignments
(19:49):
and their, you know, reports orpapers or anything like that?
And so the same could be saidfor other experiences and
identities as well.
And I think that's really whatthe keystone concept is here,
that we're looking at this as aspecific aspect that we can be
deliberate about inclusion andbelonging.
So with that, I reallyappreciate your time.
(20:10):
Do you have anything else thatyou'd like to share or say or
anything else that you think ourlisteners 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 joinus.
And I'm really excited that wewere able to have a topic like
this.
So thank you so much forlistening as well.
And we will, of course share ournext episode-we're posting every
two weeks.
So please also check out ourfuture episodes of Keystone
Concepts in Teaching.
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