A unique program between the College of Education and Human Development and the U.S. Army Cadet Command is educating college instructors and leaders for ROTC programs across the nation. Captain Nathan Hanners completed the Master Educator Course (MEC) in the fall, and expressed enthusiasm for returning to his position at John Carroll University in Cleveland, now better equipped to engage with students. "I was unleashed to work with freshmen students, and although I knew all the material to teach classes, I am excited to get all these great, new ideas to take back to our programs this year," he said. MEC is designed to educate the Army ROTC instructors about higher education policies and practices, including teaching and instructional strategies, facilitation of learning, curriculum development, and organizational analysis. UofL's Jeffrey Sun, project director and professor of higher education, worked collaboratively with the U.S. Army to conceive and design the project,
8 JACKSON, Mississippi (Jan. 14, 2021) – The morning of Jan. 14 started out as many others had before for 1st Lt. Matthew J. Cushing. He was on his way to Jackson State University, where he is an Assistant Professor of Military Science, ready to start the spring semester for the program. But this day was different – instead of starting out the morning teaching young ROTC cadets, he found himself in the middle of conflict, injured civilians and relying on his Army training.
While driving to the college to start the day, he came across the scene a major vehicle accident. He said it took a second to try to digest what had and was happening, before he decided to take actions, and possibly saving accident victims lives.