Bringing Educators Toegether
Written by Diana McGonigle
“CCME is the only national and international organization at this time that is serving both sides of the military voluntary education community,” said Louis Martini, current president of CCME and director of military education at Thomas Edison University. “There are organizations made up of institutions and there are organizations made up of military, but this is the only organization that brings both sides together to find what issues are out there regarding military education and consequently, try to solve them and work for the betterment of the servicemember.”
The council accomplishes its mission through a variety of means, including education, communication, legislative advocacy and its annual symposium, which will be held February 18-22, 2008, in San Francisco, Calif.
The CCME Symposium and other activities bring together all the different players in the military voluntary education community. “The mission of CCME is to facilitate communication between institutions and DoD representatives in voluntary education so that we can better serve servicemembers that are completing education through voluntary education,” Martini said.
“The mission of CCME in regards to the voluntary education program is to provide a venue where individuals who work for the Department of Defense voluntary education program in the various services and servicing colleges and universities and educational organizations can get together annually and discuss ways to enhance and improve programs for servicemembers and their families,” added Jeff Cropsey, director of the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES).
Cropsey’s main function is to help coordinate all aspects of the annual CCME Symposium so that it includes topics and speakers of interest to DoD participants, and to ensure that it is a coordinated training effort with the triennial DoD Worldwide Symposium. “CCME’s mission is to advance and deliver quality lifelong learning to the U.S. military through voluntary postsecondary educational programs and services,” Kathleen Connolly, Fort Lewis, Wash., education services officer and CCME president-elect, added. “CCME provides a collegial environment for professionals involved in management and delivery of these programs and services. Participants include federal, state and local government employees, academic institutions and commercial enterprises.”
As a Department of Army civilian, Connolly’s charge is to promote lifelong learning opportunities and to sharpen the competitive edge of the Army by providing and managing quality self-development programs and services. “Basically, we promote, support and deliver quality programs and services that directly benefit and advance our men and women in uniform, veterans and family members. The colleges and universities provide the academic programs and platforms.”
BENEFITS
CCME membership is composed of military educators, civilian educators, postsecondary educational institutions, and suppliers of quality education products and services. Representatives from the DoD, Servicemembers Opportunity College (SOC), American Council on Education (ACE) and DANTES participate in annual symposiums, along with service education chiefs and accrediting agencies.
“First and foremost, CCME is the only national organization for professional military educators,” Connolly stated. “We work closely with DoD and the nine state Advisory Councils on Military Education (ACME) to promote quality education and training that is accessible and affordable to active duty personnel, national guard and reserve members, veterans and family members. The ACMEs are the vehicle through which changes are brought about, for example in-state tuition rates for servicemembers and family members. Through CCME, members are able to develop and maintain effective working relationships between military, education institutions, governmental agencies and other professional organizations concerned with voluntary education. CCME also serves as a vehicle through which successes are shared and challenges are discussed and solutions are found.
“CCME’s annual symposium furthers the understanding of the military, state and institutional roles in providing education and services. Through presentations by leaders in the field of lifelong learning, CCME provides a forum for delivering professional development to members,” Connolly continued. “During the annual symposium, CCME recognizes the achievements of persons and organizations that have contributed to the advancement of education opportunities. CCME awards annual scholarships to military and family members.”
CCME is an outgrowth of the California College and Military Educators Association, which was founded in 1972 by a group of education service officers and directors of continuing education to promote, encourage and deliver quality education to all branches of the armed services. In 1994, the organization was given its current name to more accurately reflect the membership and its role in military education.
INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES
“One challenge that we are talking about on the institutional side of the house is that many of the cost points are fairly set; so in other words, the cost of serving the servicemember is not cheap for an institution,” Martini said. “With vendors, there is the fact that there are a lot of different systems in military education, so each service has a different way of managing tuition assistance and a different way of servicing the members. For example, the Army has the GoArmyEd portal, whereas the Air Force functions within another system, and so on. These differing procedures cost the institutions money because we have to develop a separate system to serve that population. Again it is that individual’s decision to get into that market and service it. The cost margins on it get closer and closer because you’re not just serving one population, you’re serving multiple populations within the services.
“On the military side of the house, the deployments and demands of scheduling take their toll as well. People are constantly moving; the pressure on our servicemembers in their rotations with their family members creates a very, very difficult situation. So both the military educators as well as the institutions need to be conscious of their situation and try to adapt as much as possible to their lifestyle and to what is going on. The other major issue that is going on both sides of the house is that we need to focus more on the spouses and issues of that matter; families are being affected as much as the servicemember. We need to look at programs for spouses as well as programs for the severely injured. We need to be aware of these populations and we need to adjust our delivery methods as well as our services in order to better serve them,” Martini said.
“There are some age-old problems; a lot has to do with getting support for the program, in the sense of getting enough finances and enough staffing to provide the resources for the servicemember to participate in the program,” Cropsey added. “So far we’ve been very lucky in that for the last few years, but there’s always a struggle at the top levels of each of the services to make sure that there are enough resources to support the program.
“I think from a college and university standpoint, the great challenge is to come up with programs that are relevant to today’s servicemembers, and not only in the majors and in the specialties they provide, but also in the ability to export these programs to servicemembers worldwide. A third set of challenges that I think both DoD folks and the colleges experience is working with the new automated systems that each of the services have and trying to provide adequate support. So again, servicemembers are able to get their education in a timely and effective manner,” Cropsey said.
“To mention but a few: challenges to military spouses to obtain their education and prepare for careers; challenges for wounded warriors to find purpose and to achieve academic successes; challenges in providing a level educational field to a highly mobile populations; challenges related to the rising cost of education within constrained military budgets; challenges related to the increasing reliance on outsourcing and contracting in the education services community; and challenges of advancing technologies,” Connolly said.
NEW DIRECTIONS
“I think that CCME is constantly looking at new directions because military education is constantly changing within its mission. In order to respond to the changes within military education, CCME also has to adjust its goals,” Martini said. “I’ve been with the organization since the mid ‘90s, and at that time more of the issues had to do with the concerns of brick and mortar institutions. As technology advanced, the issues surrounded distance education, what it was, what it involved and how did we monitor those offering these services? Now, as you know, distance education is one of the bedrocks of military education because of the servicemembers moving around all of the time. I would see the next big wave is looking more at military education as the total family, not just serving that particular servicemember; you need an institution that services the entire family. I would see that as the next big push.”
“So far I think the track record of CCME each year increases as far as attendance and its significance in the voled [voluntary education] world,” Cropsey said. “I think that it will continue that way and will continue to be a strong influence annually. And also, as I said earlier, an excellent feeder into our every-three-year DoD worldwide education symposium. I think that CCME through its symposiums and through its recognition awards and its increasing relevance and popularity will continue to be a strong and evergrowing force in voluntary education.”
Connolly added that her goals were “assisting with development of state ACMEs that work in the interest of the military communities within their states; expanding the membership to include global relationships; and serving as a focal point for information sharing and strengthening lines of communication across the entire adult and continuing education community.”
“Overall I think that CCME is one of the few organizations where everybody that attends is passionate about what they’re doing,” Martini concluded. “It is a group of people that, no matter if they’re competitors from one institution or the other, from one service to the next, their one main goal has been, in all the years I’ve been associated with it, to serve the servicemember. That’s what sets it apart from everything else.” ♦