"In this study, I examined and described the experiences of student veterans across three institutions of higher education. This dissertation has three overlapping purposes. First, this dissertation expands the existing scholarship and research on supports for student veterans in the form of student veteran resource centers, as well as how these supports illustrate others' understanding of the needs of student veterans. Second, this dissertation helps to better understand the degree to which student veterans feel like they are part of a community and how student veterans are provided with varying levels of support. Third, I conclude by providing stakeholders in higher education with suggestions based on the findings and feedback from my two studies to take into consideration with regard to the creation and implementation of student veteran resource centers. By analyzing the experiences of student veterans, the resource centers, and the administrators who operate them, this study fills important gaps in our understanding of the purposes of these resource centers, as well as how and why student veterans choose to use them. This study pursues answers to two groups of guiding questions: 1. What are the commonalities or differences with regard to the goals of student veteran resource centers at different universities, such as how they are used and what their purposes are? Additionally, how do these commonalities and differences illustrate higher education administrators' understanding of the needs of student veterans? 2. What are the predictors that have the strongest influence on student veterans' sense of community in communities of practice, and given that each university in this study is the recipient of the same award for supporting student veterans, how does each university demonstrate this support and what are the possible differences?"--Pages ii-iii.
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