PAUL
DELEÓN
PAUL DELEÓN
My area of focus while studying at Georgetown has evolved over time into its current concentration on improving the education experience for student-veterans in post-secondary education. This stems from my career in the military as well as opportunities that I have had to work with veterans during my time here. What follows is a brief narrative of how my focus of study has evolved.
When I arrived at Georgetown, I searched for a literary time period or genre that could serve as a focal point for my studies. I settled on nineteenth century British literature, and I began to seek out any opportunity to study the field. At the same time, I undertook an extra curricular pursuit to stay connected with soldiers and the military while in school. I began tutoring disabled veterans that were enrolled in Professor Kathryn Temple’s Bachelor Arts in Liberal Studies (BALS) program writing course. Similarly, I worked with wounded patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and I became involved with veteran support groups on campus. I was inspired by the determination and courage of these veterans as they faced the demands of post-secondary education while struggling with the physical and invisible wounds of war. I decided to explore how universities could better accompany veterans and I began with a look at the systems that Georgetown had in place.
I continued to research and write about Veterans in higher education in Professor Norma Tilden's class Approaches to Teaching Writing, and I created a syllabus for a veteran's basic writing class. Outside of the classroom, I became involved with the "Veterans Writing Seminar" at George Washington University. The initiative, which was made up of professors and scholars in the field of veterans' education from across the country, focused on innovative initiatives to educate veterans. Beyond a number of publications, the seminar has also created a veterans writing and film-making workshop that will take place in the Summer of 2013.
Through the creation of the GUVAP and participatio in the various veterans programs, I was able to synthesize my curricular and extracurricular interests while also finding new areas of scholarship to explore. Thus, I found an opportunity to combine my military background and scholarly work into a project that would benefit the veterans community and Georgetown University.
You can view my resume here.
At this same time, I came across an American Council on Education (ACE) Special Issue Brief that listed techniques for improving the learning experience for veterans in institutions of higher education. As I researched Georgetown’s support of veterans, I realized that the University had recently launched a number of initiatives to help student-veterans. Georgetown, even with its relatively small veteran population, provided various levels of support with tuition (through the Yellow Ribbon Program), community (through the creation of the GU Student Veteran Association), and administrative assistance (through hiring of a Veterans Coordinator). However, the University did not have a program to educate the surrounding community about veterans issues. I then decided that I could create such a program, which would improve the learning environment for student-veterans at Georgetown and help create a veteran-friendly campus. I began working on the project with the Veteran Coordinator on campus.
Simultaneously, I enrolled in Professor Matthew Pavesich’s class The Rhetorical Turn, which introduced me to the field of rhetoric studies. Professor Pavesich suggested that there was room for both my curricular and co-curricular interests in the form of the newly restructured Capstone Project option in the Master's program. I began work on the project through researching similar programs and by writing about veterans in higher education for Professor Pavesich's class.
