Honouring Veterans at TXST - Points of Pride

How TXST Serves and Supports Veteran Students

shirt reading veteran texas state
  • Veterans Advisory Council (VAC) - VAC includes the Office of Veteran Affairs, Institutional Inclusive Excellence-Student Initiatives, Veteran Academic Success Center, Veteran’s Alliance at TXST and others. Programs such as the Veteran Two-Step program, welcome and graduation receptions, the creation of EDP 2150 for veterans are a few ways this group assists in recruiting, retaining and graduating our students.
  • Veterans Alliance of Texas State - The Veterans Alliance of Texas State (VATS) is a student organization made up of US military veterans and their supporters with the mission of assisting our military members with the transition from service to student. The alliance helps ensure veterans enrolled and entering Texas State are aware of all organizations, services, and opportunities afforded to them.
  • Veterans Initiative - The Veterans Initiative, directed by Dr. Katherine Selber, Professor for the School of Social Work, is a model of transitional, comprehensive, and empirical research and needs assessments, partnerships that help the campus be responsive, and active outreach and follow-up that engages student veterans in a variety of venues. The Veterans Initiative strives to provide innovative support to this generation of student veterans with services that assist, educate, and empower them to transition from the military to the university. Undergraduate and graduate social work interns are trained to work on campus with student veterans to support their graduation and well-being. The interns gain skills and knowledge to prepare for career opportunities within veteran services, including in the Veterans Administration.

Exciting Growth in Veteran Services

female in military uniform holding backpack

The TRIO Programs at Texas State received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to establish the Veterans Upward Bound program. The $1.4 million federal grant will enable VUB to implement strategic activities and services to assist 125 eligible military veteran students each year to promote their academic improvement, completion of an educational program, postsecondary enrollment and postsecondary degree attainment.

TXST Awards for Veteran Support

2022 gold award logo

Research and Technology for Veterans

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  • Through the Technology Innovation office at Texas State, in partnership with Shenandoah University, TXST is providing no-code app development training to veteran students to help them develop skills that can lead to meaningful careers in the IT sector and in the workplace in general. 
     
  • A TXST multi-disciplinary research team used virtual reality to help veterans with PTSD. The number of veterans transitioning out of the military and reporting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been on the rise in recent years. Dr. Vangelis Metsis, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, led an interdisciplinary team of researchers from TXST to develop an intervention methodology with controlled exposure to VR imagery that simulates real-life scenarios. The study led to several publications in academic journals.
     
  • Dr. Mark Lester from the Department of Physical Therapy partnered with active-duty military personnel at Joint Base San Antonio to study soldiers’ movements using 360-degree video. His research used 360-degree video to determine if how people move in the real world is similar to how they move in virtual environments. “I began to wonder if we could create a virtual environment from 360-degree videos of a physical environment and test whether people actually move similarly in both,” said Dr. Lester. “I was able to secure funding from the U.S. Army Medical Department Advanced Technology Initiative program to test these questions.”