Ep. 18 - Understanding your Professors and Veterans Success

Welcome to Episode 17 of the CSUSB Advising Podcast! Your professors teach you and ultimately give you your final grade in the class. How should you go about learning in their class? Find out some great tips from professor Dr. Deborah Parsons! Also, what is the Veterans Success Center? Who is it for? We have Director Agustin Ramirez to answer those and more! 

In this episode, we have:

• Dr. Deborah Parsons - Associate Dean for Student Success in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences & Criminal Justice Professor 
• Agustin Ramirez - Director, Veterans Success Center

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Transcript

Star Wildes  
Welcome to the CSUSB advising podcast. Join us as we bring you the latest advising updates at Cal State San Bernardino. Each episode is specifically made for you the CSUSB students and parents. We provide you with advising tips, interviews with both CSUSB campus resources and those in academic advising, sit back and enjoy. Go Yoties.

Matt Markin  
Welcome again to the CSUSB advising podcast. Matt Markin and Star Wildes here from advising and academic services, and we have two great interviews for you. Let's jump right into the first one with Dr. Deborah Parsons, associate dean and professor at CSUSB, to talk to you about how and why you should interact with your professors, dispel some of those myths about your professors and tips that professors have for you to be successful in their classes.

Matt Markin  
Hey, Yoties. So, some questions we get from you in advising appointments is, how do you communicate with your professors? You've said some of them seem a little standoffish or intimidating, or if you have an online class, you're not sure how to connect with your professors, or not sure if you should be chatting with your professors. So we have someone to help answer a lot of those questions and more, and that is with Dr. Deborah Parsons, Assistant Dean for Student Success for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and also a professor at CSUSB. Dr. Parsons, welcome.

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Thank you. I'm a Professor in Criminal Justice.

Matt Markin  
Yes, and I had you as a professor way back when, so we know that you have a lot of experience as an administrator, as a professor at Cal State, so a lot of knowledge that you can share with our students. So thank you again for being part of this podcast episode.

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Well, I appreciate being having the opportunity to talk to students.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, and I know when they listen to this, they're going to be like, I want to have Professor Parsons as my professor. I'm going to change majors.

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
I know we're going to talk about rate my professor, but they could go to rate my professor and look at me. 

Matt Markin  
We'll see if they had that chili pepper there too.

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Yeah, a couple of them.

Matt Markin  
So we'll jump right in. So you know, we have a lot of students that are that are on campus now for fall, a lot that are still doing online classes, maybe some that are doing a combination of both, you're teaching some classes for the fall, and your classes are asynchronous, so meaning that students don't log in on Zoom or have to attend at a certain day or time they might kind of work at their own pace or see what's posted online and adhere to any of the deadlines. But do you have any tips for students navigating an asynchronous type course?

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Well, you know, just overall, I think working at your own pace is probably the hardest thing that you can do, because nobody is there to tell you, you know, don't go to the refrigerator and get a piece of chocolate cake right now. Just pay attention to your studies. You know. Oh, no, that was me that goes to the fridge. But I think the the main thing is to stay focused in your classes. One of the things that I I heard recently was education is a short term sacrifice for long term success, and so every time you take a class, make sure that time counts. So if you're doing asynchronous, then you're working at your own pace. I would do it every day. I would do, you know, do my reading, do the lesson for that day. In this case, the class lasts. For me, it lasts only five weeks. So it's a, you know, half a semester class, and we have to move through the material quite quickly. So you'd want to definitely stay on top of things. There's a quiz every other day. I mean, it just seems like it moves at quite a rapid pace. Now, in a semester setting, that's probably drawn out a little bit more, but you still have to stay on top of things, and especially because you have other classes. One of the things that I've heard students, you know, they they have a hybrid class, they have an online class that's synchronized, meaning that they have to attend an asynchronized online class, which means they do it at their own pace, or they have to be here in person. Well, how do you run home between classes to be online and and you know, so you can talk during the class, or whatever. Well, we do have classrooms set up now for students to use. They any classes that are listed. And to go in and sit in the class and you can do your online class synchronized, so you can listen to your professor and respond. So that list is available for you. So there's a there's a lot of things that you can do to prepare yourself. Definitely read before you go to class, read your lesson plan, prepare, be organized. I think students don't realize how important it is to be organized, especially with our busy lives, you know, and you to participate in class means that you're getting the the material in in your head, you're participating. You're listening to the professor, you're listening to other students, and you're participating. You're giving your viewpoint or your perception or your knowledge of the readings, and it helps you get that in your head. When I was, when I was a student, I did very little outside work, because most of the work I did was while I was in class, I was absolutely 100% present. And I know that's tough in today's world with all the distractions we have, but it's it's so important to pay attention. And I also have a saying, Don't ever cram for an exam, because if you're cramming for an exam, you're not prepared. One of the things that I probably made my fellow students mad when I was a student, because I would go in there and I'd be the one sitting there with my pencil and my Scantron or my blue book or whatever, waiting for the professor to give the exam because I had studied already. I didn't need that last minute. Oh, what's this? What's that? You know? So don't cram for an exam. And another thing is, don't procrastinate. When we procrastinate, it puts added stress on us. Some people need a little bit of that stress in order to get motivated. But if you, if you procrastinate too long, you can't do a you know, you can't do it right? You're not going to you're not going to be able to get the product or the project or whatever, to the point where it's a quality project. Take everything little steps at a time. If you look at a whole project, nobody wants to do that. But if you look at, oh, I'll work on reading this article today, I'll write a little bit of something tomorrow, or whatever, you know, just chunk it off into little, little mini projects, and you'll find by the end, you'll have it all done. It's kind of what I did with my my thesis. Every every time I took a class, I did another chapter. So by the time I finished with all my coursework, I had really finished my thesis, other than rewriting it a little bit. But so another piece of advice is especially for students now that are not on campus. You can still use all the resources that we have on campus. You can go to the tutoring center, you can go to the writing lab, you can go to the library, you can go to the wellness events that they have here on campus, everything it you can do virtually. You can get help virtually. You don't need to say, Oh, well, I couldn't come in, or I don't want to come in, I'm afraid to come in, or whatever. You can get all the help you need virtually. So there's no problem with that either. But students don't use their read the resources like they should. They're there for you. You pay for it, and your your Student Success funds, and it's really important that you use, use those to your advantage. I think finally, I want, I just want to say that you have to have a, you know, work, school, life balance, and one of the ways of doing that is to make sure that you're staying healthy, you know, eat, right, exercise, have a hobby. I always, one of the things I always tell students is read for fun, because when you get out of college, you'll hate reading because of all the things that you had to read, but I always made sure that I was enjoying my own reading, that I that I enjoyed and I had a hobby, and some of you like to meditate or take yoga or exercise or go jogging, those things are just as important, because a Healthy Mind healthy body makes you a lot more motivated and incentivized to do these things. One of the things that you can do is actually take advantage of our Wellness Center, and we have, you know, things like how to meditate, or what was the one, the doodling. Remember that. Art doodles or something. And those are, you know, those are fun. In terms of doing some other things, I say get involved. We find that student, the busier students are, the better they do. In other words, get involved with a club, volunteer for the community service, network with other students, maybe become a tutor. If you're good at something, you could volunteer to be a tutor, or even get paid to be a tutor. It's really important to stay involved and be involved. And the more you're on campus, actually, the better. I know. We have busy lives. We're going to school, we're going to work, you know, those type of things. But it's really important that we stay involved in in school. And I was the advisor for the criminal justice club for eight years, and students just loved being part of that. I mean, we went to Alcatraz, we went to the coroner's office, we went to jail. We went to prison. Well, we didn't go to jail, but we went to all these different places. And, you know, it gives the students a sense of what they want to do, you know, in the future, and a little bit more of, you know, experience that they would they didn't have. So these are things, and they can interact with other students that have their same interests.

Matt Markin  
Yeah. And lot of great advice. And I like that you not only talked about the classroom, but then also holistically, you talked about like things outside of the classroom, like the clubs, but then also utilizing the campus resources. And what's nice is a lot of these campus resources, as much as they are open back up on campus. They also still have the virtual components. So whether you want to do it online or you want to do it in person, you have those as options. And especially too talking about the organization, especially like if you're a student that has the online classes, but then also has the in person classes, and you got to race from one to the other, you know, you have that organization is going to is going to be key, but also having as much as you can to have that balance as well with work, with school, family, other personal responsibilities. Yeah, easier said than done, but you know, you got to work at it. And like you're saying, kind of take things in little chunks, little things at a time, and break it down that way, that way. It's not overwhelming when you think of the whole thing that you that you have to complete. But in a classroom, you know you have the instructors, and as students probably know, like every instructor teaches differently, but then you, as a student, liking to learn, you might prefer to learn a certain way, but maybe the instructor that you have or the professor you have may not necessarily teach the way that you like to learn. Any advice for students as they go through some of their classes where maybe they have a professor that teaches a different way that might be a little bit more challenging for them to learn the material?

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Yeah, and you know, there's probably just as many teaching styles as as there are learning styles, so it's really a plus when those things match up, you know, when they mesh and you can you have a professor that you just click with, and it you love the way they teach. I was always when I was going to school, I always loved humor, so I use humor when I teach, and I connect with students that love that, that kind of atmosphere. But for some students that might not work, you know, they might want it, you know, hey, I'm here for a short time, and I want to be serious and all this business, well, they're not going to like my class too much. But, you know, the one thing you have to remember is that it's never, it's not never going to be a match made in heaven. You're going to have to, you know, put up with different teaching styles, and you have to adjust. I mean, you're in the future, you're going to have a job, and you can't quit every time you didn't you don't like the atmosphere. You have to be positive. Adjust your behavior, adjust your your your perspective, and really stay focused on what your goals are. Your goal is to pass the class, to get as much information as possible to move forward in your academic plan. Remember, this is a, this is a real small sacrifice for a long term goal. So you want to make sure that you're, you're focused on your objective, which is to pass the class, to get to to get as much from the class as possible. You don't have to be a friend with every professor. You don't have to like every professor. I can certainly look back at my time, and actually I there were several professors that I just would could hardly wait until the class was over, you know, or could hardly wait till. Semester was over. And, you know, I mean, I took anatomy in a semester class, so I had to cut up a cat for a whole for a whole semester, not the most fun thing. And we started off with like, 60 some odd students, and only ended up with 17 in the class. So don't be one of those students that quits. I mean, it's just not it. Remember, it's about you, not about trying to assert. Well, this is not my style. You know, learn to deal with what the what the class expects, and stay organized, stay focused, and do the best you can, and go to office hours if you have, if you're having some issues with understanding material, go to the tutoring center, do everything you can to help yourself make it through that class, because it's not always going to be the perfect class, but I always try to say, have always have the intent to participate in the class and to, you know, get to know the professor as well as possible, because this professor could end up being on your thesis committee or something, you know, you never know. I mean, I I didn't expect for certain professors to actually become very important to me as I move forward, and they turned out to be more important than I knew.

Matt Markin  
So they might be on your thesis committee. They might be at a professor that you have for two or three more of your classes down the road. So, yeah, yeah, you know. And it's like you're saying, I really like that. You put that. It's a, you know, short term sacrifice, you know, for your long term goals. And it kind of reminds me of a quote from Stephen Gaffney, where he said, You know, sometimes in life, you have to do things you don't like to do, but you should love why you're doing it. And sometimes that can get you through in the short run, so you can address things in the long run. So, you know, it's like, not everything's going to be, you know, perfect and great. You know, there are going to be those class that might be more challenging, but your tips, I think can really help our students kind of get through some of those tough classes, or maybe some of the professors that maybe they got to get used to their teaching style, right? Yeah, but you mentioned office hours. And you know, so students hear about Office Hours all the time. They see this written on the syllabus where it says office hours, and it might be a certain day and time. Can you tell us what exactly are office hours? And any tips for students to prepare when they meet with their professors during office hours?

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Okay? Well, office hours, first of all, as you mentioned, office hours are always on the syllabus. They may say and by appointment, so you've got a certain period of time that you're that's your time to go see the professor or the students. Time to go see the professor. They have to buy university policy. They have to have a certain amount of time for each class. And so that that is the opportunity for students to go talk to the professor. Now, they don't necessarily have to only talk about the class. They can talk about career opportunities. They can talk about research opportunities, or maybe what, what classes to take next quarter that I mean, they can or next semester, it's always something that is really to the student, what to say, what they want to do with their time with the professor. And as far as tips go, I think, you know, always be very, very professional. Don't show up if it's not the professor's office hours, because if you show up and the professor is eating his lunch, it might be awkward. So just go during the office hours. Now you might want to just send an email to the professor and say, I'd like to discuss the last chapter in the book that you discussed in class, because I'm not understanding something. May I come to your office hours, or I'll be in your office hours and then just go to the office hours. Or if you need a different time, you can request a different time. Would you be available tomorrow morning, or would you be available before class to meet with me regarding, you know, something in the course, it's always important to be to remember to be very professional when you address the professor, always call them Professor, you know, Parsons, something to that effect, I've had students, especially because I teach a lot of police officer type people. They call me by my last name, hey, Parsons, no, don't do that. And don't call me by my first name, because I haven't invited you to do that. And also be careful. Careful about whether the your instructor might or might not have a PhD. So they might be Dr. Parsons, or they might be Mrs. Parsons, you, but you want to say Professor Parsons that way, it kind of leaves that. That out, whether you don't know whether they're a doctor or not.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, definitely. Great tips there, too, and yeah, especially don't call by the first day or just the last day have, kind of have that title in there, so like, Professor, that kind of will kind of be the umbrella term. Especially, yeah, do they have a doctor title or not? Just call them professor. It covers all the bases. And also, during, like, the first day of class, they might tell you, this is how I prefer to be addressed, and then you can make the note there. And then, like you're saying too, in terms of if you can't make the office hours, contact the instructor or the professor and see if there's a different time or day that that you can meet. Because we get that sometimes where, you know, I'll ask a student, Hey, did you go to office hours? And then they'll say, Oh, I work during that time, or I have another class during that time. But your advice, I think works perfectly where it's like, well, let me contact the instructor to say, Hey, I know you have office hours on this day and time. Unfortunately, I have a class during that time where I've worked during that time. Do you have another time or day during the week that you might be able to accommodate me? Because I have some extra questions that I want to ask.

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
And one thing that I've heard professors complain about is being crowded up at the podium before or after their lecture. Students want us, you know, get up there and say, hey, you know, I didn't get my project done in time, but I can have it to you by Thursday or something. Professors don't like to be crowded up at the podium trying to make decisions when they're about to give a lecture. Another thing is, don't wait after class. And also, you know, crowd the professor as they're trying to scoop up their books and get out so that the next class can come in. It's really important to, you know, try to do it in a formal way when the professor is not walking to or from something, and just say, Hey, I'd like to meet with you during office hours. Would that be all right? One other thing is that sometimes, like before a test or something, you might have 10 students trying to squeeze into an hour office hour, you know, and it might not always be your you may not always have time to see the professor. The professor may have too many students, or you might want to tell them something that's personal to you. Maybe you're having some issues, and you don't want to announce it in front of class, or maybe you did poorly on the exam, and there's other students that are waiting there to talk to them, and you don't want to say, well, I failed the exam. What am I going to do? You know, those you might want to email the professor and say, I'd like to have some time with you. Is there a better time where I can meet with you privately?

Matt Markin  
And I think that leads into my next question is, you know, sometimes there might be things that impact how a student does in a class, you know, some type, something that's external, like, maybe it's work related, something personal that's going on with the student. And sometimes students don't know, like, should I talk to my professor about it, what's your take on it?

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
You know, that's a really important question. And I think one of the things that I always tell students is I'd rather know what's going on than have you just disappear or you do poorly on a test, and you don't explain what happened. I want to know what's going on. You know? I mean, as a professor, we hear all kinds of stories. We hear all kinds of issues, problems. I think there isn't very many things that we haven't heard, but it's your life. It's it, if it impacts you. Um, we do care about students. There isn't, I don't know of any professor that you know is cold hearted and says I don't care about students. I don't want to hear about their excuses or whatever. We're always willing to listen. I mean, I've, I've had students that became homeless. I've had students that were in a domestic violence situation, students that became ill. I had a student that was in a horrific car accident, and, you know, she was going to be out for several weeks, and she was so worried because she was getting ready to graduate, and I I also had a student that didn't show up for an exam, and it turned out he used his one phone call to call me from jail. I think it's really important that students know that we're that we do care, and I'd rather know what's going on than. Have to guess that you were that you're just a flake and that you didn't show up for class, or that, you know, I'm not saying make something up, but at least let me know. Send me an email saying, you know, I'm having issues, whatever it is, and I think we would try to work things out. I think that's important to know.

Matt Markin  
And also know that there's not a guarantee that things would be able to get worked out. But if, if you as professor knows about the situation, maybe something can be worked out, right? And it's and if you as a student listening right now is thinking about, I, should I talk my professor or not? Probably lean on the side of talking to Professor. And you know, see what happens, because if you don't say anything, then there is no choice whatsoever at that point.

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Yet, you know, we all have issues in life. We all have things external, things that affect our our day to day, ability to produce and work. Well, it's a matt. It's it shows your character, that you're trying or that you're doing something about it, or that you're you know, that you're willing to come forward, and we can work together on it. So it's really important that you give the professor the opportunity to to assist you.

Matt Markin  
And going into our last question, we have students that will say, Hey, I use the website ratemyprofessors.com and I look to see if my instructors, my professor that might be teaching next semester, if they're on there, and should I take them or not? As long as we get asked, Should I use that website as a professor? What would you say to that question about rate my professors?

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Well, a short answer is no, and the reason is, and it goes back to your other question. Professors have very different teaching styles. Students have very different learning styles. And you're going to take the advice of somebody who might not be a good student, or might not have the same learning style that you do. I think it's very risky to, you know, read something, because then you've got to, you've got it in your mind that this person or this professor is going to be as a certain way and teach a certain way, and you're already jaded towards that. And what happens if this is a required class, and this is the only professor that teaches it, then you're going to go into it with, you know, really negative feelings, and you're going to anticipate the worst. I think it's just a bad practice to do that. You know, faculty don't mind being contacted ahead of time and and you know, you could say to the professor, Professor Parsons, I'm taking a heavy load next semester. I want to know if you if you have a syllabus that I could look at to see what's required for the class. I don't want to waste your time if it's something that I feel would be too much for me at this time. Or you could, you know, go to talk to the professor and say, you know, I've heard this is a really challenging class, and I want to make sure that I do well, is there, is there any suggestions you can give me on, you know, what else to take with this class? Like, maybe you should balance your classes better, take some electives along with this required class. That's really difficult. Professors don't try to be difficult. I think it's just some some of them have. I mean, we've got teaching responsibilities. We have research responsibilities. We also have to serve on committees and do community work. So there's so many things that are taking up our time that faculty may come across as intimidating or, you know, just too busy, but I think you know, it really serves you well if you get to know the professors, professors, and have a personal relationship with them, so that when you go to graduate and you go on to either graduate school or a job, that you have somebody that remembers you. I had a student just a couple of weeks ago contact me. He was in my class 20 years ago, and he's applying to he went to law school, and he's applying to work with the Air Force jag unit, and he asked me for a letter of recommendation. I did remember him, and I think that's what you want to make sure that your professor is going to remember you. I've had 1000s of students, but I remembered him, and I think that's what you want to go away with, make sure that they know you. And Rate My Professor is, you know, it's kind of fun. I mean, you can go look me up, but I think that you know you'll you'll find that some students will say it's wonderful, and other students will say, you. Bad, and you won't know what to do. So the best thing is just use your own experience and don't worry about what other people say. 

Matt Markin  
And especially now you're thinking ahead where it's like, okay, well, once I do graduate, or if I do graduate, and then I need to get a letter of reference or character reference, or a letter of recommendation from a professor, did I make an impact on one of my professors that they would be willing to write one? And so in this case, yeah, it's that's where talking with your professors, you know, not that you have to be friends with them, but just network with them, you know, show them that you do care about the class, that you care about learning, and then, yeah, you might make a good impression, that they will remember you and be willing to write that letter of recommendation for you at some point, which also means, too, if you're not even thinking about grad school, you might think of it after you graduate. So, you know, have those connections if you can, with your professors, and even if they seem intimidating, like you're saying, it could be a lot of other things. Or they're just, don't shout for joy all the time, but they are, you know, very caring people. And I would just kind of say, kind of going with that is go with the idea that they are coming from a place where they want to help, that they're not in this profession, you know, for whatever reason, probably the main thing that they're teaching is to be able to share that knowledge with you as a student, and they wouldn't be teaching unless they cared about that knowledge being shared to you and care about you growing and developing as a student and as a human being. But Dr Parsons, this was a lot of fun, a lot of great tips that I think students can be able to have as takeaways for this fall semester, for every semester after this until they graduate. But Dr Parsons, thank you so much for being on the podcast with us today.

Dr. Deborah Parsons  
Well, you're welcome, and I wish every single student the best. I really want them to do well.

Matt Markin  
Thanks. Dr Parsons, we truly appreciate it. Up next is Agustin Ramirez, director of the Veteran Success Center. Here we go. All right, next up, let's talk about the Veteran Success Center. Questions that we've received from you the students has been, what is a Veteran Success Center? Who is it for Is it for service members only? So to answer those questions and more, we have Agustin Ramirez, the director of the Veterans Success Center. Agustin has worked at CSUSB previously as the graduation pledge and basic skills coordinator in advising academic services, as well as an evaluator or transfer graduation counselor in the Office of the Registrar, the Veteran Success Center has been recognized by the US veterans magazine as a top veteran friendly school for eight years in a row. Agustin, welcome to the podcast.

Agustin Ramirez  
Thank you Matt, and thank you star for having me here today. It's a great pleasure to be on your podcast, and I'm very excited to share what we do here at the Veteran Success Center.

Star Wildes  
Absolutely and thank you so much. We're humbled and honored you get to join us and share that information with our amazing students and listeners out there. So Augustine, can you tell us what is the VSC, also known as the Veteran Success Center, and who is the VSC for Veteran Success Center for?

Agustin Ramirez  
So the Veteran Success Center is a one stop shop for our military affiliated students here on campus. What that means is that we are centrally located where a student can access our services, which include things like advising, help with their benefits, help with registering, as well as other amenities like free printing, free free lunch. When we have those skill building workshops, we have tutors, we have mentors, and we have numerous programs that are going on throughout the year, including some cultural celebrations and two affinity graduations. So all of those are part of the services that we offer here and the programs that we offer here. And what I mean by one stop shop is that we try to make it as convenient as possible for our students, so all of our staff are trained to know how to refer a student to the appropriate department. At the very least, know where and how to send a student to, you know, somewhere else. That way students aren't sent to different parts of the campus trying to figure out, you know, what's the process for this, and who do I turn this into? We want to make sure that when students walk to those doors, that they can get all of their questions answered. And preferably, that once they do walk through the door, and, you know, get that kind of stellar service, that they'll come back. And once they do come back, you know, we get we get them involved in programs. We get them involved with student activities, and, you know, looking at those ways to kind of build the co curricular life. So that's what we do here. Here at the Veterans Success Center. I want to point out that we have two centers, one here in San Bernardino, one at Palm Desert, our Veterans Success Center. Palm Desert has the same amenities as far as computers and free printing, free snacks, etc, when those are available, we also do offer some tutoring and mentoring services through our Palm Desert campus, and then we do partner with some of our campus colleagues to offer services that perhaps we can't really facilitate here, but they can, for example, with CAPS Counseling, psychological services. They have a veterans group that meets weekly, and that meets both here at San Bernardino and in Palm Desert. So services like that are also centrally located or offered through the Veteran Success Center.

Matt Markin  
Yeah. So definitely a lot of different services that are offered within the VSC. And it's glad to know that there are two centers, so one for San Bernardino and also one for Palm Desert. So you're the director of the Veteran Success Center. So can you talk more about what your role entails, and also, if you want to highlight to any staff members and what their roles are?

Agustin Ramirez  
So the Veteran Success Center has two full time staff members currently. So there's myself, the director, and then we also have Jaime Espinosa, who's the school certifying official. And I'll go ahead and I'll actually talk about Jaime's role first, because it's probably the one students are most interested in. So Jaime, as the school certifying official, is the person on campus who is authorized to certify a student who is receiving VA benefits with the VA. So he's the sole individual on campus responsible for a number of a number of VA responsibilities, including ensuring that the university is accredited and authorized to certify benefits, making sure that we're in compliance, making sure that a student's rate of pursued and the courses that they're taking are degree applicable, things like that that that that will come up. He's responsible for that, and he's also the one that's going to in the end, he's going to be the one that certifies with the student bills the VA, and who the VA will contact if there's ever an issue. So Jaime is the, the go to guy when it comes to veterans benefits, both, you know, making sure that you're on track to graduate and meeting the VA requirements and making sure that you're compliant. So Jaime has that fun job. My job as the director here is to make sure that our student needs are being met. And so then that entails a huge response, but it's a very vague responsibility, I guess you could say, but it entails a lot of responsibilities. So I have to make sure that our students are well represented throughout the campus, you know, when it comes to shared governance, making sure that the veterans are represented, making sure that our students, when their concerns arise, that those are issues that are being taken up to campus leadership. So I'll give you an example when everything had to go online last year. Granted, it was a big switch for everybody, but for our veterans, it was a particular concern, because the VA pays a different housing rate for online courses versus courses that are taken in person. And so this was going to create, you know, a huge issue with our students if we moved everyone online with their BH Basic Allowance for housing. So our role here was to make sure that we know we advocated for our students with campus leadership, to make sure that you know this is something we need to consider also when the policy came up with like incompletes and etc, or credit, no credits for hybrid courses last year, this was also something that was going to impact our students disproportionately, because the VA does not pay for no credits, and so if a student opted for a no credit, they were going to lose a lot of money. And so we had to, you know, advocate for that again, for it with campus leadership in the end, you know, these issues do get resolved, but that's our that's my responsibility as a director, is to recognize those issues, bring them to leadership and make sure that our students are being represented at that level.

Star Wildes  
That's awesome. And thank you so much for sharing that so Augustine, I know that with the resources you have shared that students benefit as they come to your center. May I ask, would military dependents be counted in this, in the resources that you had shared?

Agustin Ramirez  
Yes, absolutely. So when, when we use the term, I mean, I know it's all it's called the Veteran Success Center. And veterans a very kind of broad term right now, and that term has evolved over the years. So the center is actually open to anyone who has a military affiliation. So that is somebody who is a former member of the US armed forces, a current member of the US armed forces, or a future member of the US armed forces, and. Dependents. So this can include anyone who's a veteran, somebody who's currently active duty in the reserves and the National Guard, anyone in the ROTC programs, or any of the dependents. So it's a large student population. In fact, just just considering the number of veterans we have here on campus, which annually hovers around 575 students are about, or they're about when we start, you know, expanding out into like dependence and ROTC cadets, our student footprints pretty large. We actually have about 1500 students that we, that we see or that use the center in some capacity throughout the year, and that's at both campuses. So so the center is open to those who have that military affiliation, and of course, we're always open to anyone who needs services. We are funded by Student Success fees. So we so we won't deny a student any services or programs, any student that's interested, that is interested in coming in here is welcome to use the center.

Matt Markin  
With that you know, one of the questions that hopefully can also help clarify for students is sometimes we get, is a better success center the same thing as ROTC, or is it something that there's some type of collaboration between the two?

Agustin Ramirez  
so to answer the first question, no, they are not the same, and to answer the third question, yes, there's a lot of collaboration between the Veterans Success Center and ROTC. And the reason why will be the answer to number two, and that's because members of ROTC sometimes are veterans themselves, or have expectations to enter into a military career. So ROTC stands for Reserve Officer Training Command, and ROTC is actually something that's required of many campuses that use land grant universities. So a reserve officer corps was part of the initial push for land grant universities back in the 1860s with the Morrill Act and the the the idea was, if we establish university, there has to be agriculture and there has to be military science, those are the two things that have to be at the university. And so ROTC programs have been a part of campuses ever since, since the 1860s ROTC is for students who have or anticipate or aspirations of entering the military as officers. Now, I won't get into the complicated details of what it means to be an officer or enlisted or whatnot. But just suffice it to know that those are for students who want to enter into the military after graduating. Not everybody who is part of ROTC gets selected as an officer to enter into the military. So there is, there is some competitiveness there, but most people who enter into ROTC do leave ROTC with a lot of leadership skills and military training that they wouldn't have otherwise gotten outside of the of their drill and their instruction. So that's what ROTC is. And so we, we, of course, serve our ROTC students, because these are members of our community. Sometimes they're, they're students here at Cal State, San Bernardino, sometimes they're students from local universities and local colleges who use our ROTC commands. And they're, they're, they're being trained to be part of the military. And so of course, there's a natural fit with our programming and our services. So that's where we part or that's how we partner. That's and that's how we serve them. You'll also notice when on campus ever, whenever we have like, an honor guard that's presenting the flags or doing the the ceremonies with with guns and stuff, that's the ROTC that's doing that they that's part of their drill. So they're highly involved in campus events when there's that type of visibility, and that's in that type of ceremony,

Star Wildes  
Absolutely. And thank you so much for sharing that, Augustine and the history behind that, what that is. And shout out to ROTC and your staff, as I know that we've collaborated in the past, as far as events and offer advising. So thank you for sharing that insight. Just this is the next one. Any advice to students being discharged who want to pursue college after?

Agustin Ramirez  
I have so much advice. Oh my goodness. Where to start. Where to start. So number one is, if you're looking to start college, is to really reach out to the college to find out if it's the right fit for you. One of the biggest concerns that we get from our students is they started college and they they it's not what they wanted. Right? They learned a trade or a skill in the military, and now they thought they had to major in it to use that same trade or skill as a civilian, when, in fact, that probably wasn't necessary. For example, you could have gone, they could have gone to one of the local community colleges, completed trade school or vocational school there, and then have entered the workforce from there. So that's one of the things that we want to make sure that a student's aware that, you know, there's other options besides, you know, a four year degree when it comes to using your training in the military and then entering the workforce. Another thing we like to advise our students about is exploring financial options. So particularly right now with the the new the new class of veterans that are entering colleges, a lot of them are eligible for what's called the Forever GI Bill. Now this is the GI bill that has no expiration date, which to me, that's just incredible. When I left the military, I had to use my GI Bill within 10 years, or it would expire. And so this the new veterans that are entering into college have a forever GI bill that will last a lifetime. So it's to their benefit, really, if they're planning on doing, you know, you know, different programs after graduating to save that GI Bill. So the example that I give them is, you know, if you're going to be, you know, doing undergraduate degree to go into a career like medicine, started a community college, you can get the first two years free, right with the the California Promise. Then transfer to Cal State and use your financial aid to cover your undergraduate degree, you get far better financial aid as an undergraduate than as a graduate. As a graduate, you're just going to get loans primarily, right? But as an undergraduate, you get Cal Grants, Pell grants, state university grants, there's any number of free money that's available. And then once you graduate from here, maybe you do go on to med school. Use your GI Bill there, and you can graduate from med school virtually debt free. And so that kind of advice to me is the stuff that I wish somebody had told me when I had entered college, because it would have been so much more valuable. I didn't even know about financially until I transferred to Cal State. So like I was using my GI bill at a community college, which, don't get me wrong, that was fine, but I really wish I had known to save it, to have saved it, that would have been far more beneficial for me in the long run. So those are the types of advice that we like to give students. Is to really look at, you know, how do you want to finance school? And then the second advice is with career, you know, looking at different degree to career options. We want to make sure that students don't get to pigeon hole or to, you know, tunnel vision when it comes to their degrees and their and their and their career options. Want to make sure that they're that they recognize that there's different pathways to different careers. And you don't necessarily have to, you know, you know, follow one path to a career. There's different ways of getting there. One of the ways that we do that is we have, you know, great services through our Career Services here at Cal State. Another way that we do that is through a vocational mentorship program, and this is done with a nonprofit called American corporate partners. What they do is they will match our students with a veteran in the career of their of their choice. And, you know, start a mentorship relationship between the two. So the student can ask the the professional, the mentor, you know, how did you get there? What did you have to major in? You know, what was, what was it like entering into your occupation? What was the entry level experience? How did you grow? How did you know, you know, this was the right job for you? Things like that that make entering the workforce so much more realistic and set those expectations harder as more real world. Those are our ways that we're supporting our students to make sure that they have this degree to career pathway, that's, you know, that that's real world and and meets those expectations.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, that's great advice. And, you know, it's also the collaborations with these different departments, so like the Career Center, and being able to kind of see, okay, what career options do I actually have? And also, you're mentioning, like, the financial aid. So if, like, let's say a student has questions, you know, maybe it's, do I qualify? Do I How much do I have left in this GI Bill is, do they go to the financial aid office or they go to your center? How does that work?

Agustin Ramirez  
So if a student has questions about financial aid. It's a financial aid office issue. So typically, those we have, we have military, dedicated staff members in the financial aid office who would be able to, you know, assist a student with, you know, what are you eligible for based on what you submitted on your in your packet, and and the. Go from there, if it's a VA benefit question, then the best people to ask for that is the VA. And the VA has made it really convenient to be able to check your benefits and what you're eligible for. They've consolidated everything they that they used to have in a patchwork of different online platforms. They've consolidated it all to va.gov You just create an account. It's a single sign on for all these different platforms. And there you can check on everything, healthcare benefits, education benefits and other opportunities that are offered through the VA. If you go to the education benefits area, you'll be able to see what am I eligible for. In the VA will review your file and then send you a letter with everything that you're eligible for still. So for example, if you know you've used your GI Bill, but you don't know how much you have left on it, you can check with the VA, they'll send you a letter that says you have, you know, 30 months left of your post, 911, GI Bill, so that's where you're going to that's where you'll go to get that information. Va.gov.

Star Wildes  
And thank you so much for sharing that. So are there any events Augustine that you can think of that you would like to let our listeners know about? And again, being that this will be posted on the 20th any that are events that are happening during that time.

Agustin Ramirez  
While we actually had our one of our first events today, it was the indigenous book club. And I want to, I want to encourage students to participate in this. This is a fascinating thing that's going on right now with our first people center. So we partner with the first people center to to sponsor a indigenous book club. And the book that we're reading this quarter or this semester, excuse me, is in Tales of the mighty code talkers. And this, this is a graphic novel that reviews the history of Code Talkers throughout America's war efforts, which is surprising to me, began in World War One, not the the Navajo talkers of World War Two are very famous. I think that that there, you know, there was been, there's been movies made about it, books, etc. And so that was my expectation. But when I heard that, you know, there was, in fact, Code Talkers as early as World War One and before and and as late as the Korean War, I was just, I was just astounded. I said, Why didn't this is something I never knew. And so this is going to be a fascinating graphic novel to read. So I do want to encourage our listeners today to to participate in the indigenous book club. You do not need to be a veteran to participate in this program. You can be any student. And I think that you know the the information that is that's going to be covered is going to be valuable, regardless if you have a military affiliation or not. The nice thing is, you know, you get a free book out of it. You get free lunch. And there's also going to be a movie. It's called the Choctaw code talkers, and that's going to be, I believe, November 10. I'll have to check on the details. The best place to look for our events is on our social media. So I can't, I can't think of any events right now off the top of my head, other than the indigenous book club and the chalk Choctaw coat talkers film. So check our social media. The VSC has an Instagram account that you can check that we try to keep updated regularly, although we don't do quite as good of a job as as advising academic services, but we're trying to keep up. I don't think anyone does. Just say we're trying, man, we're trying, man, we're trying. 

Star Wildes  
You guys are you are doing amazing. You're doing amazing. And just to follow up with what you had mentioned, the screening is of celebrating native veterans. And it is November 10 at 6pm so please make sure you check that out via the events.

Matt Markin  
Yes, I know, with the Veteran Success Center, all year long. There's always something going on that you all are participating in, or an event that you're holding, so definitely check that social media be great things going on during the academic year. But obviously we've reached the end of the podcast interview. I think there's a lot of great tidbits in here for our students and any parents that are also listening in to this podcast. But Agustin, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure, and I think again, a lot of great advice that you've shared today.

Agustin Ramirez  
Well, thank you, Matt, and thank you, Star. Thank you to our listeners today for listening to me, and I appreciate. Get the opportunity, you know, to talk about one of my favorite things, which is our student veterans, our military affiliated students, and what we do here. So thank you for the opportunity. This has been very fun. Thanks.

Matt Markin  
Thanks, Agustin, lots of great info there to share with our CSUSB coyotes. Star take us home.

Star Wildes  
Please make sure you check us out on our social media outlets, CSUSB, advising on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, Tiktok as well. And of course, thank you so much for listening to our podcast.