SMOOTH TRANSITIONS: Military-friendly colleges and universities help pave the way for veterans to succeed in civilian life.

• Author: Saylor, Teri

With a little help from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Alex Blain is ready for his next chapter.

After serving 23 years in the U.S. Army, Blain is transitioning into civilian life and the MBA he is earning will help pave the way to a post-military career in business consulting.

He is most interested in aerospace and defense, consumer goods and technology.

"I like problem solving and collaborating with teams, and the opportunity to get into those sectors is very motivating," he says.

Blain is just one of thousands of veterans starting a new chapter at one of the state's numerous colleges with programs tailored to people with a military background. Schools know veterans come with skills and a work ethic that make them strong students and they can help fill the ever growing workforce demands from North Carolina's new and expanding population of employers.

Blain already has plenty of professional experience in his current role in the inspector general's office at the Pentagon and in Kenan-Flagler's STAR program (Student Teams Achieving Results), which matches business students with corporate partners to help them solve problems and challenges.

"The STAR program is giving me some exposure to the business world before actually going out to work with the civilian sector," he says.

Blain chose Kenan-Flagler for its standing as a top MBA program and the real-world experience he's also receiving. Kenan-Flagler's ranking by militaryfriendly.com as one of the nation's top military friendly MBA programs provides an extra incentive.

Militaryfriendly.com ranks colleges and universities, employers, and other entities as an incentive for them to invest in programs that improve the lives of veterans and help them pursue higher education. Rankings are based on responses to a survey of important factors in supporting military talent.

More than 1,800 schools participated in the 2023-2024 survey, with 530 of them earning awards designations, and 250 designated as "gold," including Kenan-Flagler and other North Carolina universities and community colleges.

Colleges and universities in North Carolina are well-positioned to serve military personnel and veterans because of the number of military bases and the robust business and industry growing in the state, primarily in the STEM sectors.

A native of Boston, Blain joined the military in 2000 to see the world, and a year after enlisting, he found himself fighting...