WEKU’s Corinne Boyer interviewed Veterans Studies students Samuel Lewis, Amber Woolery, and Kendra Watts to learn how our curricular and co-curricular offerings prepare students in fields such as social work and psychology to serve veterans and their families as future mental health practitioners. She also spoke with Dr. Autumn McCane, chief of mental health services at the Lexington, KY VA Medical Center about how the new KCVS Mentoring Program helps Eastern Kentucky University students tap into the expertise of current professionals in the field.

Read or listen to to the piece on the WEKU website.

Travis L. Martin, PhD, is founding director of the Kentucky Center for Veterans Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. He has established several nationally recognized programs to support returning veterans in higher education and the non-profit sector. A scholar of American literature, psychoanalytic trauma theory, and social theory, Dr. Martin presents frequently at conferences and universities. He has published dozens of research articles and creative short works on veterans’ issues. A former sergeant in the U.S. Army, he served during two deployments in the Iraq War (2003-04 & 2005). His book War and Homecoming: Veteran Identity and the Post-9/11 Generation is slated for publication with the University Press of Kentucky in 2022. He resides in Richmond, KY.