UC Veterans Summer Writing Workshop

Susan Derwin
Germanic, Slavic, Semitic Studies, and Comparative Literature
UC Santa Barbara

The UC Santa Barbara Interdisciplinary Humanities Center convened the first annual intercampus writing workshop for UC student veterans. This community-building opportunity provided a forum for student veterans to produce narratives, to engage with other UC student veterans, and to present their stories in a public forum. The IHC also sponsored an intercampus faculty seminar designed to assist in the creation of student veteran writing workshops across UC campuses. This project supported veteran integration and academic success, adding an academic component to the practical support for student veterans that, in February 2014, UC President Janet Napolitano announced is an area of student life with which her office will be increasingly involved. The UC Veterans Summer Writing Workshop anticipated three outcomes: educating faculty; integrating student veterans into the university and broader community; and developing an ongoing engagement with the CA public through projected outreach.