Tallahassee, FL – Florida State University's Ukraine Task Force hosted 14 educators from Ukraine this summer. The groups represented numerous areas of the Ukrainian educational system. They came to Tallahassee to build connections with FSU faculty and staff for long-term collaboration in joint research, shared pedagogy, course development and publication. 

An area that resonated strongly with the groups that visited FSU was the university's commitment to veteran success and the programs that support that goal. Ukraine has more than a million registered veterans, and after the war with Russia, their number will rise to 5-6 million, including family members.

"One of the biggest challenges this country will face is how to serve military veterans, most of whom can only be demobilized now if they have acquired a major physical injury such as the loss of a limb," said Dr. Vilma Fuentes, program director of FSU's Ukraine Task Force.

The most impactful experience many educators had was with the staff at FSU's Student Veterans Center (SVC). The SVC provides programs and services designed to enhance the retention, graduation and career-placement rates of student veterans, active-military students and veteran/military dependents. 

"The creation of a veteran center is needed in Ukraine because of the war with Russia," said Dr. Svitlana Kretovych, representing the Office of the President of Ukraine. "After the war, it will be very important in the process of rebuilding Ukraine."

"The most crucial part (of the visit to FSU) is to implement America's experience in serving military veterans," said Roman Dadak, acting Head of the Association of Colleges and Director of the Technological College of the National Forestry University of Ukraine. "Right now, we have a lot of people serving in the Army and we will have a large amount of veterans when the war is over. This is a very important experience for us."

Veteran success at Florida State can be attributed to three broad objectives: (1) initiating, cultivating and sustaining relationships between veterans and the FSU community through the Student Veterans Center, (2) providing tangible resources and activities designed to foster these veterans' sense of connectedness to the university and (3) raising awareness among the university community of the student veteran experience.

“We believe we have a responsibility to those who have served, to weave them back into the fabric of society,” said Billy Francis, Director of the Student Veterans Center. “To walk them through any unique challenges related to their service that may arise when they begin pursuing their post-military goals and life purpose.  Ukraine shares this vision and demonstrated this through the passionate/committed delegation visit over the summer.  We look forward to walking with our new friends in their efforts to serve and support their veterans.”

Florida State University is positioned as a national leader for student-veteran support. In particular, the exceptionally high retention and graduation rates FSU student veterans attain can be attributed to state and university investments in veterans.

"As a military person, it came unexpected, completely unexpected for me, the full range and scope of possibilities FSU can offer," said Dr. Andrii Balendr, a colonel and head of the language training and testing center at Bhodan Khmelnytskyy National Academy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. 

The SVC works to ease the transition to campus life with veteran-specific orientation sessions and first-semester courses. It facilitates connections and a sense of community through veteran-centered events and activities and provides advice and direction regarding campus and community-based veterans programs and facilities. 

"We were very surprised by how the Student Veterans Center has an individual approach for each veteran and the attention they give to veterans issues," said Dadak. "The care for veteran students is something we would like to implement in our educational institutions."

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