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Lucien Vinyeng, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and a graduate of UAMS.
Veterans Find Education, Support in College of Health Professions
| About one-third of the more than 500 veterans and active-duty members of the U.S. military who study or work at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have found a home base in the UAMS College of Health Professions.
There they have found a supportive faculty, many with military service of their own, and contributed to the learning culture of the university and the college.
Recent graduates like Lucien Vinyeng, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force who supervises a medical laboratory, discovered that welcoming environment for himself when he enrolled in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences’ Bachelor of Science degree program. Faculty members were willing to help him and others in active military service balance their academic goals and obligations with their military duties, especially irregular hours.
New members of the faculty like Stephanie M. Lopez-Neyman, Ph.D. M.P.H, an assistant professor in the college’s Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, in turn have brought to the university’s educational mission a discipline and focus they might not have acquired as readily without their military experience. She joined the department’s faculty early this year.
After three years of active-duty military service in the U.S. Army as a Supply Specialist (Quartermaster Corps), Lopez-Neyman went on to pursue master’s degrees in clinic nutrition and in public health with an emphasis in Epidemiology before earning her Ph.D. in Nutrition Science in 2023.
“The core values of the Army just stuck with me,” Lopez Neyman said. “That’s just been the compass I have lived by.”
Applying those core values sometimes has been a challenge for her as she’s encountered civilian work cultures that didn’t understand the military ethos of discipline and execution. Over time though, she has learned how to adapt to those different workplace environments without lowering her standards.
“I strive to understand my students and meet them where they are,” Lopez-Neyman said. “Especially in their training to become a registered dietitian, I see my military experience coming out to help them focus and learn. You’re coming into this profession, and there’s an expectation and you need to be able to perform. You need to be able to have accountability.”
Just as Lopez-Neyman has found her military experience to be an asset as an educator in the college, Vinyeng has applied his own military experience to his academic life.
“My military background helped me in the sense that I’m used to strict deadlines,” Vinyeng said. “I’m used to a rigid schedule, so it helped me stay on task with my homework. It helped me be proactive in asking for help when I needed it, or what’s next, so I can get started on it. Because in the military they give you your left and right limits, and you work within those limits, and you have tasks.”
Military assignments demand that tasks be completed on time and with precision.
Vinyeng said the leave-no-one-behind ethic of the military also has motivated him to help his fellow students in group study situations. Just as he was helping other students, the faculty members in his degree program helped him.
At one point, he had to leave UAMS for a military assignment while classes were going on. His professors let him turn in homework at different times because they understood he was hundreds of miles away.
“Because of their understanding of what it takes to be in the service, they didn’t move the goal line,” Vinyeng said. “It did build a strong bond, a strong rapport. They could understand situations in which we have this homework due at midnight, but I am in another time zone for military service, so they let me submit it two hours later.”
Nathan Johnson, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, as well as other military veterans who are faculty in the department, understand the extraordinary demands of active service. Johnson served in the Louisiana Army National Guard for five years and was active duty in the Air Force for more than 28 years as a Biomedical Laboratory Sciences Officer. Fourteen members of the college’s faculty are military veterans.
“The military students feel at home in our program, and we feel at home having them in our program,” Johnsons said.
About 100 veterans are students in the department, which has a total enrollment of about 1,000. Most of those are online students.
Johnson joined UAMS in 2017, and in spring 2018, he said he first became aware of a military tuition out-of-state waiver for active duty veterans within three years of discharge and for dependents of active duty military personnel
“Dr. Long was very supportive, and she worked with UAMS leadership to get the online tuition the same for all online students, the in-state tuition rate,” Johnson said. “We actually started recruiting military the day I arrived at UAMS with some mass mailings to military labs.” (Susan Long, Ed.D., is dean of the College of Health Professions).
His first recruiting trip while at UAMS, and accompanied by other faculty members, was to Little Rock Air Force Base, where they recruited the first two military students for the online program. Johnson said Jason Key, M.Ed., assistant professor in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, was a vital part of those early recruiting efforts, making many visits despite a heavy course load of teaching.
With adjunct faculty supporting students, and assisting the department’s professors and instructors, the department has managed to keep up with the almost exponential growth in its student body. Student pass rates on national exams have been high and shown that quality has not suffered with the growth either.
The military students are from all three branches and are serving in places as far away as Japan and Iraq. That means professors and instructors need to be available to answer questions and teach at odd hours, too. Answering a student’s question late in the evening is not a unique event, Johnson said.
He said Dean Long understands those challenges and has been supportive of his program in meeting them. Support for the university’s veteran and active military students also has come from other UAMS offices.
David Williams, UAMS assistant registrar for Veterans Services, also is no stranger to the late night, virtual meeting with a student who needs help with benefits. There are about 550 veterans or active military at UAMS as students or employees, including the Northwest Regional Campus. About 260 are accessing veterans’ benefits, especially tuition assistance.
“That’s my job, is to make sure that they’re aware of everything they are eligible for. I also help them choose which specific benefit will help them the most,” Williams said.
He said the College of Health Professions is notably supportive of veterans. Its leadership and administrative staff don’t hesitate to help veterans and active military students navigate through the different processes at UAMS, including admissions.
Helping veterans and students in the military is a vital part of the educational culture of the College of Health Professions. It’s about serving those who serve.