The Grass is Greener in West Virginia: Keeping Veterans in the State
Interview with Retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel, Jerry Wood, Director of The Center for Veteran, Military, and Family Programs at West Virginia University
Jerry Wood, the director of The Center for Veteran, Military, and Family Programs at West Virginia University sat down with us to talk about the connection between veteran and military families and how these individuals can find ample opportunities and support both through West Virginia University and the state of West Virginia.
Rural states like West Virginia are often overlooked for opportunities, and those seeking a career and a place to call home, such as veteran and military families, go elsewhere to chart their course.
Jerry Wood understands just how much opportunity and growth is embedded in West Virginia and strives to show that the grass may look greener elsewhere, but the grass in West Virginia is just as green for veterans and their families.
Wood details how we can show support for these individuals and how WVU, its partners, and the state of West Virginia has an opportunity to tap into the most tenacious and courageous group of individuals for their workforce, communities, and beyond.
Jerry Wood Q&A:
What is your elevator pitch that explains what you do as the director for The Center for Veteran, Military and Family Programs?
The WVU Center for Veteran, Military, and Family Programs is more than just a student focused unit. While our primary role is to care for, and directly support, our nearly 1,200 military and veteran connected students across all our campuses across the state, another critical component of our program is to support the military and veteran community throughout West Virginia.
West Virginia University is a land-grant institution, so our mission is derived from the history of institutions with similar upbringings as well as the idea of supporting President Gee’s newly established Purpose Initiative. I was born in West Virginia, and I left to serve our Nation. My 30+ years of worldly travel allowed me to discover that the grass in WV is just as green, if not greener, than anywhere else.
But why did I come back to West Virginia? It’s all about the ability to not only support our students, but to utilize the opportunities presented by WVU to truly develop and support those who both directly served or were within proximity to a veteran, throughout West Virginia. We are currently working on programs that will address veteran initiatives within all our higher education institutions throughout the state of West Virginia, not just at WVU, where these programs foster the support for workforce and economic development. These students need to see support from local and state government partners, where we can see a sense of relationships between veteran and military students and our elective representatives, West Virginia startups, corporate partners and industries, and the larger network capable of being fostered in West Virginia.
Why should West Virginia startups, more specifically those in the technology industries, see the potential in veterans and military students? What makes these individuals so highly sought after?
From the start, military members are trained in a vast number of career fields that include highly technical skills of industry leaders. The military is on the cutting-edge of a lot of the technological development and military members get the chance to experience that firsthand as either users or developers & maintainers of technological advancements. Those service members are highly sought after for those hard skills that they possess and receive for military service. In addition to those come their soft skills—drug free, security clearance, team oriented, work ethic, being in the moment, loyalty, dependability, and responsibility. Another attribute that military members bring to employers and businesses they created is an overall sense of trainability. These members train all day every day, so we know how to learn, train adapt quickly and efficiently in all environments to produce better outcomes.
Some examples of the efficiency and guidance military members utilize in the technological industry is how we have been instrumental to developing drone technology and usage and the ability to manage those from anywhere in the world both in a controlled and hostile environment. Similarly, cybersecurity and IT has been addressed and concerns have been dealt with for decades by service members. As these industries have become more prevalent in the commercial industry, so have the needs for addressing problems as they arise, and military members have already been dealing with newly arising problems since the very beginning of the internet. These skills have been in the military for decades. Breeding and tapping into that talent for service members to find opportunities within these industries comes from our success and drive to make West Virginia a veteran-ready state.
What led you to want to work with the veterans both on the collegiate level and throughout the state?
My journey to working with veterans at the collegiate level spurred from my own time spent serving for the United States Army. After serving for over 30 years of active duty, with deployments to Korea, Croatia/Bosnia and Iraq, and various positions under my belt, I retired in 2017. When I retired from the Army, I wanted to come back to my home state and find a way to give back to the state while at the same time giving back to the veterans and families in West Virginia. What I found was WVU was packed full of opportunity to help the state, and the people, I called home.. I strive to connect all veterans to understand the opportunity in West Virginia, find them employment, foster both a military-focused and civilian network, and build the workforce in West Virginia with these hardworking individuals. West Virginia is a startup state now more than ever and showcasing the skills of veterans is something of which I am proud. Veterans are responsive, resilient, agile, and quick thinkers who can stay up to date with the technological and entrepreneurial startups being fostered in the state,.
College is often viewed as a starting point for various careers, and veteran-first college students are no exception. How has your office better equipped these students to reach their career goals and stay in West Virginia post-graduation?
Most of our students come out of the military with the desire to obtain a college education. But the challenge is the thought of where to go to get that education. WVU plays a key role in these students selecting the university based on what programs of study are offered, and not offered as well as the student support given. However, our program comes into play where we see these innovators looking for opportunity post-graduation. The services we provide helps them come full circle with their skills and newfound degrees that can encourage growth post-graduation. Our job is more than just working the student veterans and military through their benefits on campus based on their service, but we go one step further to ensure these students understand their access into other supports such as housing, childcare, academic functions, advising, tutoring, and most importantly, helping them navigate their career preparation within the academic world. Offering these programs, and others like them with a military focus, not only attracts these students with military backgrounds, but encourages them to see the community support, relationships, opportunities, and encouragement they can continue receiving when staying in West Virginia.
As we strive to make West Virginia a veteran-ready state, we also understand the importance of finding support through employers for military members. One example I always like to mention is the idea of the medicinal industry in West Virginia. Veterans and military members can efficiently develop ways to deliver healthcare to rural communities through technology such as robotics, telemedicine, and working through leveraging other technologies to connect rural communities to major medical support centers in the state and beyond. Our military professionals lend themselves to be ideally suited to support these needs in West Virginia and rural America through their skills and knowledge both in and out of the technological industries.
You recently received news of a top 20 ranking in the Military Times 2022 Best College for Vets rankings. How do you see this impacting the number of students who have served coming to West Virginia for college?
Our progress is an important part of the marketing and global exposure West Virginia University will have in the Department of Defense community. Looking at the history of the rankings for WVU have shown a significant increase in recognition for our program and how impactful the entire process has been for the state of West Virginia. In 2017, we were not ranked in the review, in 2018 we were 131st, in 2019 we came in at 91st, and in 2020/2021, ranked together because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we ranked 40th. But now, WVU is known globally as the 19th best school for veterans and their families out of 311 ranked higher education institutions in the nation. That alone draws attention not only within interested students, but within peer institutions who are both in and out of the ranking. When our current serving members see those things, it brings attention and allows them to think to investigate the opportunities in both WVU, and the state of West Virginia more than before. For example, we recently are seeing interest as far away as Korea, Europe, and a multitude of locations across the nation.
Certain communities where we have ongoing relations with Department of Defense helps to draw more people to the state for academic and nonacademic opportunities. Programs in the Reed College of Media, Health Sciences, and the Chambers College of Business and Economics showcase how successful these students can be both in and out of the classroom. Reed College was my first mission when I came aboard to establish a medium between the Reed College at WVU veterans and their families and the Defense Information School (DINFOS) at Ft. Mead, Maryland. That school trains all public affairs service members and civilians for the department of defense. Through that medium, we established the graduate Integrated Marketing Communications program and have completed our first miliary cohort in May with 100% graduation rate and with an extremely high GPA (3.95 at least). A large percentage of these students have noted the opportunity in West Virginia and have stayed in the area post-graduation as well.
What is something you wish more veterans interested in attending college would know about now that you have seen the success of your program?
I want veterans to understand that they are never alone in their journey post-military. Especially at WVU, as we have a support system that understands them and will meet them where they are. They can trust in us and the system in the university that our military and veteran students can understand from the culture, training environments, military education, and how all these components will translate to civilian life and higher education.
How can organizations like Vantage Ventures help to further support veterans and their families once they are enrolled, or even after they graduate from West Virginia University?
Vantage Ventures provides an opportunity for these veterans and military families to develop their ideas and dreams to make them a reality. Just like any other student at WVU, if they have an entrepreneurial-based goal, there are resources to help them reach their highest potential and get them the support they need to blossom.
Programs like Vantage Ventures helps them build their civilian network as most of them come in with a military network and it is harshly translated to their civilian life. The same thing happens in the military world. If we can find those networks in the veteran realm, civilian networking can help with these connections. Veterans are trained to problem solve with minimal resources, so we become very inclined to hesitate to ask for assistance outside of our immediate circle because it’s like a sign of weakness and inability, but this important to learn how to do once we are out of the military.
Both the Center for Veteran, Military and Family Programs and Vantage Ventures strives to support the vision of students and young entrepreneurs in the state. What is one thing you think more organizations could do to support veterans and their families?
From the very beginning of my career, I have strived to support ideas related to building a foundation for future success, and one of the most prominent examples of this is building a network. If I could suggest one thing for organizations across the state to do to support veterans and their families, I would strongly suggest networking events specifically for veterans, military, and their families. We need our leaders in West Virginia, whether that be political, corporate, industrial, entrepreneurial, or anyone in leadership to understand the value of the veteran and military community. West Virginia has ample opportunities for these hardworking individuals to find a career, settle down, and call West Virginia home, and I think the very foundation for this effort is found in the networks made and the opportunities provided from the ground level.
-Written by Trevor Swiger
Vantage Ventures student marketing intern
10/05/22