(L to R) Joanna Garner, Pamela Arnold, Monica Esqueda and John Nunnery.
Representatives of Old Dominion University's TEAMS program - Teaching, Education and Advocacy for Military-Connected Students - participated in a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, April 13 that explored ways higher-education institutions can support children with military ties.
Invited from Old Dominion by the White House's Joining Forces initiative were John Nunnery, executive director of the Center for Educational Partnerships; Joanna Garner, research associate professor, Center for Educational Partnerships; Pamela Arnold, research associate, Center for Educational Partnerships, and Monica Esqueda, assistant professor, Educational Foundations and Leadership.
The Joining Forces initiative, working with the public and private sectors, was launched in 2011 to support service members, veterans and their families through wellness, education and employment opportunities.
Nunnery served on the meeting's opening panel that highlighted programs from four leading institutions in this effort: Old Dominion University, George Mason University, the University of Southern California and Kansas State University.
Nunnery is a member of the national advisory board that developed the guiding principles for Educate the Educators.
These principles are commitments that schools and colleges of education can make to ensure educators are equipped to respond to the unique needs of military-connected students and families, such as deployments and transitions.
The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, the Military Child Education Coalition and members of the national advisory board have solicited more than 100 commitments to the guiding principles from colleges and schools of education across the United States.
Arnold, Garner and Esqueda participated in follow-up sessions that provided opportunities for more in-depth discussion related to the development, design and implementation of Old Dominion's TEAMS initiative.
Old Dominion was recently included in Victory Media's "2016 Guide to Military Friendly Schools," published to help service members with their transition out of the military.