Adm. James Stavridis was NATO's top military commander and now serves as the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. (Courtesy of U.S. Naval War College).
On this Veterans Day, WGBH's On Campus is taking a closer look at what more colleges and universities can learn from the military.
For four years, Admiral James Stavridis served as NATO's top military commander. Today, he's the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts. We visited Stavridis in his office in Medford, Massachusetts, and we asked him what's the one thing higher education and the military can learn from each other.
Even as President Obama sends 1,500 troops to Iraq to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces, colleges and universities in the U.S. are preparing for an influx of veterans. The American Council on Education reports veterans represent just 4 percent of undergraduate students at U.S. colleges and universities, but their numbers are growing.
Related: 'We Are Inching Our Way Back Into A War In Iraq'
All but 9,800 U.S. troops are scheduled to be out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, and Massachusetts is expected to have nearly 50,000 post-9/11 veterans home by 2030. And more than 70 percent of them will probably go back to school.
In August, On Campus visited UMass Lowell where administrators are increasing staff and launching veteran support programs.
Listen to that story here:
