University of Montana Earns National No. 1 ‘Military Friendly’ Rank

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - One of the most impactful programs on the University of Montana campus is Military and Veterans Services, and as a result, the school has just received the nation’s number one rank for being military friendly.

I spoke with Patrick Beckwith, director of UM’s Military and Veterans Services Office about the honor just announced this week.

“We're number one according to the Military Friendly School Survey, and we're number one especially for tier one research institutions,” began Beckwith. “I think the most important thing to recognize there is that it takes everyone at an institution to achieve this type of accolade, whether it's the leadership that endorses all the programs or it's just the daily staff and faculty that engage with student veterans. It’s an incredible feat that so many people have contributed to.”

Beckwith said UM President Seth Bodnar, himself a West Point graduate and decorated Green Beret, provides a great deal of inspiration to the program.

“President Bodnar's leadership has clearly opened the doors for all types of military friendly programs, and it's echoed throughout all the vice presidents and all the way into the departments and sectors that honestly take their own initiative to find ways that better serve our military and veteran students,” he said. “One thing I would love to highlight is, as we've gone through this development over the course of now seven plus years, to figure out how to do better, we know that it's always a work in progress. We're never going to give up our commitment to figure out what's best for our veterans.”

Beckwith again referenced President Bodnar’s ‘quiet leadership’.

“Something that resonates with President Seth Bodnar as a former Green Beret, is that he knows it's about being a quiet professional,” he said. “A lot of what we do at the University of Montana is quietly happening behind the scenes. There are a lot of professionals quietly doing the hard thing, day in and day out.”

Beckwith said the school and its various departments have been completely supporting of his program.

“It's a matter of when you are creating programs or when you're talking about new ideas at a university, in order to be military friendly, you got to have somebody in the room that can weigh in on the conversation,” he said. “That's honestly where I feel so welcome. There isn't a table at the university that I'm not invited to help contribute to the best way forward.”

Over 8,800 schools are part of the Military Schools list nationwide, and UM is now number one.