On any given Thursday morning when school is in session at the University of Washington-Tacoma campus, you’ll find Thomas Kuljam up on the third floor of the Tioga Library building. He’ll be sitting at a long table where he’s put out a couple of boxes of doughnuts, and he’ll be shooting the breeze with whoever stops in for a sugar fix. Most of the folks who come by are veterans.
That’s because Kuljam is director of an innovative program specifically designed to serve veterans as they transition from the military to a campus environment and ultimately the civilian world.
The Veterans Incubator for Better Entrepreneurship – better known as VIBE – is already attracting nationwide attention, and no doubt it could and should be duplicated elsewhere. But UW-Tacoma was a natural place for it to take root in the first place. Located just 15 miles from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which is one of the nation’s largest military bases, the University counts a full 20 percent of its student body as having a connection to the armed forces – including veterans and military dependents.
Recognizing this as a significant asset, campus administration tapped Kuljam to pull together the components that have made the VIBE program a launching pad for entrepreneurs throughout the southern stretch of the Puget Sound region.
Kuljam has the cultural competency to make this happen. He understands – from way back – how uncomfortable it can be to transition from one way of life into another.
He was a little kid living in Thailand – his first pet was a water buffalo – when his mom married an American serviceman who moved them to the United States when his tour of duty was over.
From Southern Washington
Helping veterans
become effective entrepreneurs
by Barbara Lloyd McMichael