Peacing it Together: Post 9/11 Enlisted Student Veterans’ Awakening to Peace Leadership

<p>Student veterans face a spectrum of socialization challenges intrapersonally, interpersonally, in communities, and structurally due to the cultural differences between the military and college. More comprehensive programs that individually and collectively address these challenges need to be developed, and it has become apparent that a new model needs to be evaluated. A peer-based learning program, the Peace Practice Alliance (PPA), is grounded in an integral peace leadership framework, including innerwork, knowledge, community, and environment. With student veterans facing these challenges, such as feeling misunderstood, isolating themselves, and filtering communication among younger students, the PPA program will meet student veterans where they are in their struggle.</p> <p>This study sought to understand enlisted student veterans' perspectives on integral peace leadership and the usefulness of a framework-based program to help them integrate into college. Outcomes evaluation served as the guiding methodological framework. Pre-interviews, post-interviews, journals, and discussion notes were the data collection methods with five participants who participated in a hybrid four-week program. Constructivist grounded theory was the principal data analysis method utilized for analyzing the collected data. Findings indicated that formerly deployed post-9/11 enlisted student veterans found value in addressing preconceived psychological and social barriers both individually and collectively in the PPA for their continued transition into and navigation through college. The unanticipated formation of a community transformed student veteran participants' mindsets toward themselves and others and created a sense of feeling more prepared to interact with others, resulting in collective action toward a positive change for student veterans on campus. The findings of this study also suggested implications for higher education and peace leadership as a field.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year

2024

Author dc:creator

• Irwin, Nicholas J.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Whitney McIntyre Miller
• Greg Warren
• Kris DePedro

• Student veterans
• Peace Leadership
• Transition
• Community
• Transformation
• College
• Educational Leadership

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_dissertations/73

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:education_dissertations-1072