News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
91.7FM Alpena and WCML-TV Channel 6 Alpena are off the air. Click here to learn more.

Central Michigan University receives distinction for supporting veterans

Central Michigan Unviersity

Central Michigan University has been selected as a Michigan Veteran Connector school by the Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency.

The MVAA introduced the program this year as part of a governmental effort to combat veteran suicides.

CMU is one of eight colleges and universities selected for the program in Michigan.

“The Veterans Connector program is a new initiative from the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency,” said Duane Kleinhardt, the Director of CMU’s Veterans Resource Center. “We’re already on MVAA’s radar because of our veteran friendly status with Michigan Veteran Affairs and so they sent us an email and introduced the initiative.”

After realizing they met all of the requirements, the CMU VRC joined the statewide initiative.

Kleinhardt said he wants to bring veteran awareness to other departments.

“Not only is the Veterans Resource Center part of the Michigan Connector, it’s all of CMU,” Kleinhardt said. “So now I am trying to bring that question to other organizations here at CMU and educate them so that as they’re meeting with students or the public, they’re asking the right question.

As part of the program CMU employees have received training on mental health awareness through PsychArmor, a state-run program.

The program focuses on alleviating the stress of answering questions about one’s veteran status by switching the question.

“So, the idea is to ask a much more non-threatening question,” Kleinhardt said. “Have you or anyone in your household served in the military? And it’s much easier for many people to answer yes to that question than the veteran question.”

Sean Chase is from Newaygo, Michigan. He is a senior at Central Michigan University pursuing a journalism degree.