The University of Missouri–St. Louis continues to excel in its support of military-connected students, helping them with their transition from service as they meet their educational goals.

军事时报在密苏里州排名第一，在全国范围内排名第37位2021年“最佳兽医：大学”清单。

The publication aims to have the largest and most comprehensive rankings of schools for military service members and veterans to help them make decisions about their education. It included 366 institutions in its 2021 rankings, which marked the seventh consecutive year that UMSL finished in the top 50.

“这种认可表达了这样一个事实，即我们了解学生退伍军人和与军人相关的学生的独特需求，并且我们在过去的几年中一直在努力，以确保我们的服务与这些需求保持一致，” UMSL Dean of Student of StudentD'Andre Braddixsaid. “You see our increased academic outcomes reflected in our current ranking. I think that’s the fruits of the labor we’ve been putting into this important student population.”

Associate Teaching ProfessorJim Craig，退休的美国陆军中校，现在是UMSL的主席Department of Sociology，表示UMSL在排名中的持续高位并没有偶然发生。

他在建立对校园中约400名老兵和其他与军事联系的学生的支持方面发挥了不可或缺的作用 - 包括一些接受者G.I. Bill benefits。2012年的关键时刻是establishment of the Veterans Centerin Clark Hall, and it has developed intoUMSL老兵与教育与过渡服务。

“The first year we didn’t make the rankings, and we looked at those questions they were asking and the direction they were trying to measure, and we consciously built programs – not to match the survey but because we thought that’s where we needed to be thinking,” Craig said. “So it was intentional. We continue to be intentional about taking care of our student veterans, understanding who they are, measuring their success or not success, doing a needs assessment with them and then providing for those needs. We are doing it on purpose.”

克雷格说,UMSL管理员,开始总理克里斯汀·索博里克（Kristin Sobolik）and her predecessor,总理汤姆·乔治（Tom George）, have been clear in their commitment to support military-connected students.

UMSL也特别适合满足他们的需求，因为他们与许多其他UMSL学生的需求有很多重叠。

“I think it’s as much about what we do for vets as it is about what UMSL does for adult learning students,” Craig said. “Veterans are, if nothing else, adult learners.”

The Veterans Center provides a comfortable space to hang out and ensures that all their paperwork is in order to receive G.I. Bill benefits – a top priority for keeping students enrolled and pursuing their degrees.

Military-connected students can also find camaraderie with students with similar life experiences as they adjust to being on a college campus as well as supportive staff who can help refer them to other student services, such as those provided by学生倡导和关怀, when needed.

“The staff are aware of the sometimes unique needs of our student veterans and military-connected students,” Braddix said. “They build that living room, if you will, for student veterans. I think the UMSL Veterans Center helps give those students that connection back to a piece of their identity, which is being a veteran.”

The Veterans Center is academically focused, and military-connected students can use it as a quiet place to study. There are computers available, and they can also access tutoring.

Ultimately, UMSL VETS works to help military-connected students engage with the broader campus as they pursue their degrees.

克雷格说：“在第一学期或两个学期，他们的理想典范是在兽医中心度过的时光，认识大学，对大学感到满意以及如何成为一名大学生。”“然后他们会消失，因为他们在护理俱乐部或生物学学生团体中，或者正在从事商业工作。因为它们与大学有关。他们没有连接到大学的退伍军人中心，实际上是与UMSL连接的。

“然后，我们尝试在他们是老年人并将他们带回来的时候去寻找他们，要求他们在兽医中心工作，以便他们可以建模这种前进的进度。”

It’s getting results. As Military Times noted in compiling its rankings, military-connected students – who make up about 4 percent of UMSL’s student population – are graduating at a rate within half a percentage point of the overall student population. They can take advantage of Career Services as they look to launch careers after earning their degrees.

短URL：https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/?p=89761