As the director of military student success at Viterbo University, Sam Morris’ duties are many. So are his lofty goals.

“I get a great deal of joy helping veterans, military students, and their family members receive the benefits to which they are entitled,” said Morris, who earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Viterbo and a bachelor’s degree in health and wellness from California University of Pennsylvania. “It’s a way I continue to serve and it’s very rewarding.”

In addition to benefit education and assistance, Morris also works on other aspects of military-aligned student recruitment and retention, such as meeting with prospective students on campus and in the community, planning and scheduling events, and providing individual advice and support.

Morris served 20 years as a U.S. Army medic, including combat deployments to Bosnia, Kuwait, and Iraq. He was a member of a medivac unit whose job it was to pick up wounded soldiers at the point of injury and transport them to a “higher echelon of medical care.” He began in his current position at Viterbo in August 2022.

The university has 313 military-aligned (ROTC, active military, veterans, and spouses and children) students enrolled. It earned Top 10 Gold Military Friendly® School designation for the second year in a row.

Morris isn’t stopping with maintaining this high award, however. He has numerous initiatives and projects he would like to see implemented at Viterbo to honor veterans and military families and improve their educational experience. These include increasing the number of military-aligned students, developing both an on campus and study abroad course specifically for military students, working with campus ministries to place a memorial to military students on campus, and creating a robust military student scholarship program.

“I would also like to dedicate our space to Rachel Hugo,” said Morris of the Viterbo nursing student and combat medic who was killed in the line of duty in Iraq in 2006.