Articles - Spring 2011 - return to index
 Michael Sámano |
Faculty Spotlight: Michael Sámano
Veteran helps returning troops transition to college
By Chris Cunningham
The military photos and recruitment posters lining the office walls of Lane sociology instructor Michael Sámano speak worlds to student military veterans who enter.
These images—especially one black and white photograph showing a young man in a crisp, white sailor uniform—send the message that veterans are welcome here.
The photo is Michael as a fleet sailor in the U.S. Navy. He enlisted in the ’80s, when he was 18. After his discharge, “I was wound tight, trying to find my way back into the civilian world.”
He has since earned a doctorate and has taught at Lane for 12 years.
As director of Lane’s LIVE (Integration of Vets in Education) program, Michael helps today’s vets re-enter civilian life. “Through my lived experience, I represent a calming voice for student veterans,” he says.
Michael teaches a series of classes funded by a $100,000 Success for Vets grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation and the American Council on Education. The classes help veterans make the transition from structured military life to ill-defined student life. Michael also offers one-on-one academic and career advising.
“The fact that I’m a permanently disabled veteran—meaning that I’ve struggled from time to time with the Veterans Administration—used my college benefits to go to school, and wrote my master’s thesis on PTSD and readjustment issues,” helps student veterans relate, he says.
Project LIVE: 2011sitearchive.lanecc.edu/veteranservices/
