Georgia State’s New Military Outreach Director Draws on a Deep College, Family Veteran Connections in New Role

ATLANTA—Lisa Boyd, Georgia State University’s new Military Outreach Director, knows firsthand the challenge military students face coming back to civilian life. She is the mother, wife and daughter-in-law of veterans—all who have served in the U.S. Army, both overseas and stateside.

“They go from a very tight-knit structured environment to a civilian life that is not structured,” Boyd said. “It can be incredibly challenging and stressful. From the spouse side and as a mother of a veteran, I think I have a deep understanding of what these veterans go through when transitioning from the military to the classroom.

“They are usually older. Some may or may not have seen combat, but they are coming from a very structured environment to one where they are unsure what they are going to see on the college campus,” she said.

Boyd is no stranger to the university or to its military-affiliated student population. Since 2007, she has held several positions in financial aid and the registrar’s office assisting veterans and military-connected students with using their Veteran Administration (VA) education benefits and connecting them with available resources to help with their transition to college.

Boyd started with the Technical College System of Georgia in 2007 and has been with Georgia State since 2013. In her new role as director, she oversees the university’s six Military Outreach Centers (MOC), military outreach advocates, and GSU’s VA school certifying officials.

Boyd takes over a program that has consistently helped the university achieve the No. 1 and 2 ranking nationwide as a Military Friendly institution. The university typically serves more than 2,200 military and military-affiliated students. Almost 1,800 are currently using VA education benefits, with almost half using post-9/11 benefits. Other VA education benefits are available including science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) scholarships for veterans. In addition, the MOC partners with Vet Buds to award a $1,000 grant monthly to a veteran student with good academic standing.

One of Boyd’s goals as the new director of the MOC is to create more partnerships for mentorship programs from outside the university and to connect veteran students to military-friendly companies.

“We want more companies to help our veterans go from college campus to civilian employment,” she said.

Currently, the college partners with State Farm, The Warrior Alliance and Alight Solutions.

With a master’s in First Year Studies from Kennesaw State, Boyd wrote her thesis on the challenges veterans face on transferring from active military service to college.

“Retaining our veteran student population is different than the regular student population. Their needs are different, and they need different types of support,” she said. “I’m interested in finding out what we are doing right –and what we can improve to retain these students,” she said.

Boyd, who also has a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and a Master of Science in Instructional Design, is currently working on her doctorate at Georgia State in Educational Policy Studies with a concentration in Higher Education.