Retired Gen. Jeff Hammond has just a little bit of a mean streak in him.
As director of the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families and chief recruiter of veterans to the Hattiesburg campus, he travels widely to recruit veterans as students at military bases.
While at Fort Hood, Texas, he paid a visit to the president of nearby Central Texas College.
“I asked him what made him mad, and he said, ‘All these schools from far off buy billboards outside Fort Hood and try to steal all our students,’ ” Hammond told McComb Lions Club members Tuesday.
“The first thing I did after that was buy two billboards outside Fort Hood.”
Hammond’s access to military installations is a valuable asset to USM in its recruiting efforts. Without the kind of access that Hammond has as a retired general, USM, like other colleges and universities, would be unable to recruit on military bases.
However, Hammond said USM makes it easy for Hammond to tout his employer.
USM was the first state university to offer free tuition to National Guard members, and it offers waivers of out-of-state tuition fees to military veterans.
The veterans center also helps to connect veteran students to physical and mental health resources, personal and professional development opportunities, employment opportunities and other resources.
What Southern Miss provides for veterans has helped bring almost 1,800 veterans to campus as students, about 12 percent of the student body, Hammond said. Of those, almost half are on the university’s academic honor rolls.
About 60 percent of the veteran students come from in-state.
Future students will see the construction of a new veterans center on USM’s campus, with symbolism embedded in the architecture.
A slanted roof over the portico leading to the entrance of the planned new building will be like a salute to each veteran entering, Hammond said. Groundbreaking is slated for spring.
He said he continues to be impressed by the veteran students who come to USM and the values they maintain and display from their active service days.
“If the future is up to these students, we’re going to be fine,” he said.
