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APSU names retired Brig. Gen. Brower as inaugural military adviser in residence

(Posted Sept. 13, 2018)

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – On Sept. 1, retired Brig. Gen. Scott E. Brower, former deputy commanding general of the 101^st Airborne Division, joined Austin Peay State University’s senior leadership team as the institution’s first military adviser in residence. In this new role, Brower will advise the APSU leadership team on how the University can better serve its military students and help the University optimize the process of recruiting, enrolling and graduating military-connected students.

“Austin Peay has more students with a military connection than all other public and private schools in Tennessee combined,” White said. “These students are an important part of this University, and Gen. Brower, with his extraordinary leadership skills and knowledge of issues affecting active-duty service members, veterans and their families, will help us advance our work in support of them.”

Last year, White appointed a special task force to look at how the University serves students with a military connection, and after months of research the task force recommended creating this new position. With Brower on board, Austin Peay now has two retired generals on its senior leadership team – retired Lt. Gen. Ronald Bailey, of the U.S. Marine Corps, was named vice president for external affairs in July – and two retired generals on its Board of Trustees – Dr. Gary Luck retired as a four-star general in the U.S. Army and Robin Mealer retired as a brigadier general in the U.S. Army.

“I'm very excited to be joining the team here at Austin Peay,” Brower said. “With all my time at Fort Campbell, starting in 2001, and having a daughter that graduated here in 2016, I have watched this University grow and I am excited to see what is happening here. With my connection to Fort Campbell, understanding of the importance of higher education for our soldiers and family members, and the unique challenges that sometimes face military-affiliated students, I truly believe that I can help make a difference for these students and our University, as well as our local communities.”

Brower graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1989. Following an initial assignment in Air Defense Artillery, he spent the vast majority of his career in Special Forces with three tours of duty at Fort Campbell with the 5th Special Forces Group, culminating as the commander from 2011 to 2013. He later returned to Fort Campbell to serve as the Acting Senior Commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in 2016.

Brower earned master's degrees in defense analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and strategic studies from the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama. He has served in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Austin Peay is the state’s largest provider of higher education to military-affiliated students, with at least 2,329 enrolled students having a military connection in the fall of 2017. In 2015, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) honored the University’s support of this population by naming Austin Peay a Veterans Education Transition Support (VETS) Campus. According to THEC, VETS Campus certification is awarded to higher education institutions that “not only prioritize outreach to veterans, but successfully deliver the services necessary to create a supportive environment where student veterans can prosper while pursuing their education.”

Austin Peay offers a full-time Veterans Affairs counselor on campus through the VetSuccess program, as well as a Student Veterans Organization and a Military Student Center. Earlier this year, the University opened a new, federally funded Veterans Upward Bound Office on campus to assist low-income veterans and veterans who are first-generation college students earn a college education.