Currently, Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits are incurring an influx of military-connected students in U.S. higher education systems not witnessed since WWII; it is estimated that the number of Post-9/11 veterans will surpass five million in 2021 [1]. Military-connected students, including students who are veterans or concurrently serving in the Reserves or National Guard, reflect the varied racial, ethnic, gender, ability, and socio-economic sectors of U.S. society and represent all geographic regions of our nation. Increasing participation of military-connected students in engineering promises not only to strengthen but also to diversify the engineering workforce. However, despite surging college enrollment and a strong potential among military-connected students for interest in and exposure to STEM careers through military experience, very few (1 in 12) veterans who enroll in college go on to study engineering [2], and even fewer complete bachelor’s degrees and become members of the engineering workforce. 

 

Along with being an underutilized source of engineering workforce talent, military-connected students are an understudied population. Higher education scholars [e.g., 3-7] largely agree that research on military-connected students is nascent, and that much of the existing research is reactive, deficit-based, and overly attuned to student veteran demographics and needs and services, such as mental health services and academic support. While findings of existing research prove useful and important for institutions preparing for the current influx of military-connected students, it is time for researchers to shift and grow beyond institutional “checklists” and “blueprints” for promoting the success of essentialized student veterans [6]. Without this shift, there is a substantial risk that the “establishment, funding, and marketing” of veterans’ programs and services will take precedence over the quality of their experiences in higher education [6]. 

 

More recently, engineering education researchers have started to answer this call to more deeply explore issues related to military-connected student experience, including role transition and professional identity development [4, 8-11]. In this session, I will introduce the audience to Veteran Critical Theory [5-6], an emerging emancipatory critical paradigm that is conceived for the purposes of equipping and empowering the research community to push beyond descriptive analysis of the student veteran population. The tenets of Veteran Critical Theory aim to provide a common tool and unified language for questioning and critiquing (what are assumed to be) civilian educational structures re/purposed and re/constructed in the name of student veterans and military-connected students more broadly. After introducing Veteran Critical Theory, I will then briefly discuss how I am employing Veteran Critical Theory, as part of a critically focused theoretical framework, within a new engineering education research study focused on military-connected engineering students. The study aims to 1) consider and critique the ways that current education policies, procedures, and practices marginalize military-connected students and 2) authentically articulate the multi-faceted storied experiences of military-connected students in undergraduate engineering education.

Dr. Angela Minichiello, P.E., is Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at Utah State University. She employs qualitative and mixed method approaches to examine, interpret, and improve the experiences of engineering and computer science (ECS) learners across formal and informal settings in undergraduate and K-12 education. A substantial portion of Dr. Minichiello’s work to date has focused on increasing educational access and equity among ECS learners whose life experiences and socio-economic situations diverge from those of traditional college-age students, including non- and post-traditional students and adult learners within rural, public university settings. In 2021, Dr. Minichiello received a National Science Foundation CAREER award to longitudinally examine the experiences of diverse military-connected students, including veterans and current service members, in engineering using narrative inquiry. At the graduate level, Dr. Minichiello received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Utah State University and her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Minichiello received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and subsequently served for seven years on active duty in the U.S. Army, Aviation Branch.

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[1] L. McBain, Y. M. Kim, B. J. Cook, and K. M. Snead, "From Soldier to Student II: Assessing Campus Programs for Veterans and Service Members," Washington, D.C., 2012.

[2] C. Cate and T. Davis. "Today’s Scholars: Student Veteran Majors: SVA Spotlight: Select Results from Student Veterans of America 2015 Census." Student Veterans of America.

https://studentveterans.org/media-news/in-the-news/550-spotlight-brief-2-today-sscholars-a-closer-look-at-majors-that-student-veterans-are-pursuing (accessed May 30, 2020).

 

[3] DiRamio, D. and Jarvis, K. (2011). Veterans in higher education: When Johnny and Jane come marching home. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 

[4] Main, J. B., Camacho, M. M., Mobley, C., Brawner, C. E., Lord, S. M., and Kesim, H. (2019) Technically and tactically proficient: How military leadership training and experiences are enacted in engineering education. International Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 446-457.

 

[5] Phillips, G. P. (2014). Peering through the fog: A proposal for veteran critical theory (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Texas A&M University, TX.

 

[6] Phillips, G. P. and Lincoln, Y. S. (2017). Introducing veteran critical theory. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, vol. 30, no. 7, pp. 656-668, 2017.

 

[7] Vacchi, D. and Berger, J. (2014). Student veterans in higher education. In Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, vol. 29, M. Paulsen Ed. The Netherlands: Springer.

 

[8] R. C. Atkinson, C. Mobley, C. E. Brawner, L. S. M., and M. M. Camacho, "I never played the ‘Girl Card’: Experiences and identity intersections of women student veterans in engineering," Proceedings of the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Salt Lake City, UT, 2018.

 

[9] C. Mobley, J. B. Main, C. E. Brawner, S. M. Lord, and M. M. Camacho, Pride and promise: The enactment and saliency of identity among First-Generation Student Veterans in engineering. International Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 35-49, 2019.

 

[10] C. Mobley, C. E. Brawner, S. M. Lord, J. B. Main, and M. M. Camacho, Exploring the Experiences of First-Generation Student Veterans in Engineering.  Proceedings of 2018 CoNECD – The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference, Crystal City, VA,2018: ASEE.

 

[11] J. H. Lim, P. Thomas, C. G. Interiano, J. L. Dahlberg, and C. E. Nowell, "Engineering as a pathway to reintegration: Student veterans' transition experience into higher education and civilian society," in ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, New Orleans, LA, 2016: ASEE.