在美国海军陆战队服役九年之后, 包括在世界各地的四个大使馆的多次部署和职位, Andrew Truong returned to college with a purpose: earn a degree that would put him in a career helping others. What he didn’t expect to find was a course that gave voice to his experience as a veteran transitioning back to civilian life.
“我看到一则关于 UCI退伍军人证书课程 在学校的每月电子通讯上, 这引起了我的注意,Truong说。, 谁在今年早些时候获得了社会学学士学位. “‘老兵’这个词在大学校园里并不常见.”
事实上, UCI’s Veterans Studies Certificate — launched in 2019 and available to all students — was the first to be offered in California and is one of only four such university-level programs in the U.S. Despite numbering more than 18 million and representing 7 percent of the nation’s population, U.S. veterans continue to be an underrepresented and understudied group in academia, says 比尔毛雷尔他是正规欧洲杯买球网站欧文分校社会科学系主任. 通过创建证书课程，他和导演 安妮塔·卡萨万特·布拉德福德, professor of Chicano/Latino studies and history, are working to change that narrative.
“What we deem worthy of academic study — and how we approach that — says a lot about what our society values,毛雷尔说。. “通过提供一个学习和了解退伍军人的空间, 我们正在验证UCI的学生社区. 我们在对他们说，‘你很重要.’”
这一点对卡萨万特·布拉德福德来说尤其尖锐. As both the daughter and spouse of service members from different eras and a scholar of immigration and ethnic studies, 她热衷于提升被低估和被歪曲的声音. Casavantes Bradford brings a critical lens to bear on the curriculum she helped craft, which draws upon insights from disciplines like Chicano/Latino studies and gender and sexuality studies, 以及更广泛的社会科学领域.
“在我的职业生涯和个人生活中，我都看到了美国是如何做到这一点的.S. military veterans are simultaneously hypervisible yet frequently misunderstood,她说。. “Too often, veterans are represented as politicized symbols of what people imagine them to be. By providing space for scholars and students to explore the diversity and complexity of veteran experiences and identities together, we’re challenging these misrepresentations and encouraging a deeper understanding of veterans’ actual experiences.”
整体, Casavantes Bradford hopes the program will raise awareness of the veteran community while helping vets feel more included on campus.
“就像所有没有得到充分代表的社区一样, 退伍军人应该参加帮助他们在课程中看到自己的课程. 这是一种认识到他们重要的方式, 他们的经验值得认真研究和反思,她说。.
这个项目有三门课程, 哪些可以单独或作为一个系列, 对退伍军人和非退伍军人学生都开放吗. 满足UCI通识教育要求, they’re designed for anyone seeking to develop a deeper understanding of veterans’ issues and experiences, 以及那些有志于在这个独特的社区工作的人. 所有课程都由退伍军人或与军队有关的教师指导.
过去的一年, veteran studies lecturer Mariana Grohowski taught the “Veterans’ Voices” and “Veterans in History and Society” courses. She drew from her doctoral research on the missing voices of female veterans and from her dad’s time in Vietnam. 2015年，Grohowski推出了 退伍军人研究杂志 给这个领域一个学术的家和一个传播研究成果的出口, 她继续担任主编.
“A lot of students have stereotypes of veterans; they think they k现在 ‘veterans’ when they likely only learned something from movies or hearsay,她说。. “我的目标是帮助学生了解有多少退伍军人的经历. 我们努力挑战刻板印象，为多样性打开大门, 老兵经历的复杂性和历史.”
这一信息引起了切尔西·阮(chelsea Nguyen)的共鸣, a nonveteran who took both courses in hopes of better connecting with her grandfather’s experience in and after the Vietnam War.
这一信息引起了切尔西·阮(chelsea Nguyen)的共鸣, a nonveteran who took both courses in hopes of better connecting with her grandfather’s experience in and after the Vietnam War.
“成长, 我祖父给我们讲了许多他在战争时期的故事, 当我看到这个项目和这些课程时, 我很好奇，也很高兴我有机会获得更广阔的视野,Nguyen说。, 谁今年从UCI毕业并获得心理学学士学位.
As she completed her classwork, she shared what she was learning with her grandfather. 这些谈话在他的过去和她的现在之间建立了独特的联系.
“I’m lucky to have Grandpa still here with me so I can continue listening to his stories and, 现在, 更好地理解他重新融入社会的经历,Nguyen说. “All of this has helped shape me into a more compassionate person who better understands other peoples’ experiences.”
资深研究讲师Pauline Lubens获得了博士学位.D. 2018年在UCI的公共卫生专业, 教授第三门证书课程, “退伍军人的转变,，这是2022-23学年的第一次. She drew from her UCI doctoral research on war and public health and her 35-year career as an award-winning photojournalist documenting the personal impact of war and disasters, 人道主义应对和全球卫生危机. 鲁本斯将此与她作为政策分析师的经验相结合 刀耕火种, 退伍军人权利组织和社区非营利组织, to bring in real-life examples of the daily triumphs and struggles veterans undergo after separating from the military.
“I was in Iraq a few times and spent a lot of time in the Bay Area working on stories about veteran recovery. I became embedded in this community, and it’s been a big part of my world,她说。. “When I talk to my students about issues like veteran homelessness and mental health, 它来自于第一手的知识.”
在她的课堂上, Lubens leaned heavily into her journalism background by conducting and sharing one-on-one interviews with veterans who’d transitioned out of the military – some long ago, 最近的其他人.
对于Truong, 谁曾参与过“退伍军人转型”的前一部分,这个课程改变了我的一生.
“It was incredible being in a class where veterans like me got to share their experiences while also learning about the different aspects that make up the unique identity of each veteran, 知道没有“唯一”的体验,他说. “我强烈建议所有学生学习这门课程，尤其是退伍军人. 它帮助我更多地了解自己, 这把钥匙是我在找回去的路上丢失的.”
To learn more about the UCI退伍军人证书课程 offered through the School of 社会 Sciences, 访问 http://www.undergrad.socsci.uci.edu/certificate_veterans.
Chelsey阮, 谁今年从UCI毕业并获得心理学学士学位, says the Veterans Studies Certificate Program classes she took helped her better connect with her grandfather, 显示在他服役期间.
