Best of CASE District V Award
 

Institution: Kent State University

Title of entry: Brian Gliba

About this entry: Brian Gliba’s story wasn’t just unique to our university, but rather, his journey is out of the ordinary and significant across the country. As a disabled Iraq veteran, Gliba was struggling to get his life back together, but through a series of support opportunities and partnering with Kent State, he found a new calling in his life.

Highlighting a nontraditional student like Brian helps to illustrate that not all of our 30,000+ students follow a typical path to a degree. By allowing him the freedom to share his journey and how he hopes to make our community better, our story allowed Brian to connect with the greater campus community and talk about the programs and professors who are helping him to succeed.

These types of stories lead directly to more calls to our student veteran affairs office, often leading to increased benefits being used to support our students who have served. Brian’s story also highlights support for students with disabilities, leading to more inquiries from others facing similar challenges to find a university that can meet their needs.