MANHATTAN, Kan. — A new, private center on the Kansas State University campus aiming to help veterans transition into student life has opened.
The Military Affairs Innovation Center opened September 12, The Manhattan Mercury reports.
Art DeGroat, director of the university’s Office of Military and Veteran Affairs, says the center will work with other agencies and use the university’s research into how veterans have transitioned into life after the military to help student-veterans.
“Innovation is the key word,” DeGroat said. “It’s things that are above and beyond the day-to-day university activities in support of our military connected students.”
The center is also researching the life stories of 48 student-veterans who died while fighting in World War I. The Kansas State University Memorial Stadium will be dedicated to those students in April, which marks the 100th anniversary of the country’s involvement in the war.
The center is funded through two major donations from the Kansas Masonic Foundation and the David Woods Kemper Veterans Foundation.
The center does not receive any state funding and is a private organization.
“It’s a great facility for our military friends from Kansas City, Wichita and Fort Riley to not have to figure out how to get on campus and park and find buildings. They can come right there to the office park,” DeGroat said. “It really elevates our game.”
