DENTON (UNT), Texas --To further create a welcoming environment for student veterans at the University of North Texas, the university's Veterans Center and Division of Student Affairs will launch a Veterans Interactive Program during 2013. The program is being funded by a grant from the Aurora Foundation, which assists colleges and universities in helping student veterans to receive their degrees and enter the workforce.

UNT has been listed as a "Military Friendly School" for 2013 by G.I. Jobs magazine and was named to the "Best for Vets: Colleges 2011" list by Military Times EDGE newspaper. However, the university's student veterans often aren't aware of campus resources to help them adjust to becoming non-traditional college students and overcome cultural, psychological and health-related issues that may prevent their success in college, according to a recent survey.

The first initiative of the Veterans Interactive Program, Green Zone training, will begin during the 2013 spring semester. Faculty and staff volunteers will attend workshops about issues and challenges that student veterans may face as they transition from military service to university life.

Green Zone, which will be modeled after a program at Virginia Commonwealth University, will provide information on the process of deployments and their effects on military members before, during and after the deployment, and strategies to better communicate with student veterans and guide them to be successful. Expanding on VCU's Green Zone training, UNT's program will include simple role playing scenarios performed by students. The skits will demonstrate how to communicate with student veterans about financial aid and military benefits, counseling, academic advising, future careers, money management and other topics.

Tockie Hemphill, director of the Veterans Center, will supervise the new initiatives supported by the Aurora Foundation. She said faculty and staff members often respond to student veterans as they do to traditional college-age students -- not understanding, for example, that a student veteran can receive financial help for books through the university's Boots-to-Books Loan Program, or that federal aid from the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill may arrive after regular tuition payment deadlines.

"I think all of those who go through the training will have a greater respect for our student veterans," she said.

Each faculty and staff member who completes the training will display a Green Zone badge on his or her office door, which will indicate that he or she is available to assist student veterans. The badges will also note if the faculty or staff member is a veteran or current military member, said Qaisar Abbas, manager of strategic grants for the Division of Student Affairs, who developed and submitted the proposal for the Aurora Foundation grant.

"'Green Zone' is a widely used term in the military for a safe place," he said.

The second part of the Veterans Initiative Program, the Veterans Advocacy Program, will begin during the 2013 fall semester, with 25 students assigned as mentors to groups of new students who are veterans. The mentors will be selected during the 2013 spring semester and will be veterans themselves or military dependents. They will meet regularly with the student veterans and also communicate with them via e-mail, phone calls and social media.

In addition, a Veterans Circle will start during the 2013 fall semester to allow current and former military personnel to publicly share their experiences with UNT students, faculty and staff members. Each Veterans Circle event will include a roundtable discussion with the audience and the storytellers, and the stories will be videotaped and published in the Veterans Center newsletter. Hemphill said the first Veterans Circle should be scheduled for Veterans Day in 2013.

The entire Veterans Initiative Program will be publicized via a marketing and media campaign. For more information, contact the Veterans Center at 940-369-8021.