How one veteran used his sense of purpose to create one of the largest and most comprehensive veterans centers on an academic campus in the nation.
Story by Amber Weaver
38 years. 38 years of honoring our country. 38 years in active duty as an infantryman and Green Beret. For some, 38 years is a lifetime.
For most, it’s much longer than the average career. For Lt. Gen. Keith M. Huber, it’s where this story was just getting started.
Huber was born into a military family. His grandfather served in World War I and his father in World War II. He followed in their honorable footsteps and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1975 and then served in the Army. For 14 of those 38 years, he served at the rank of general officer. His service included tours in Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Haiti, Honduras, Kosovo and Afghanistan. When Huber returned home to his wife and children, one could only imagine the internal battle he was facing.
“I’m in Afghanistan with an $860 million budget. I work for the Secretary of Defense, and I deal with presidents of countries every week. I’m in charge of tens of thousands of people’s lives,” Huber says. “Then I retire and think, ‘Holy mackerel! What do I do now?’ I lost that sense of purpose. I lost the reality that I helped make the world safer every day.”
While Huber is no longer in battle, he and an incredible team are now making a difference in the world every day on the Middle Tennessee State University campus and beyond.
With the help of a country music legend
Huber put finding that sense of purpose into helping those just like him.
“My attempt to give back and to feel worthy of my time and space that I occupy is to serve veterans and to assist them in this transition,” Huber says.
At first, he worked heavily on adding value to veterans programs at nearby universities. Then over lunch one day with MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, everything changed. Huber first resisted but eventually became senior advisor for veterans and leadership initiatives and a distinguished visiting professor at MTSU. He was also tasked with creating the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, but before that could come to fruition, Huber conducted a 90-day assessment and visited veterans centers across the nation. The official grand opening took place in November 2015, but it wasn’t long before a rededication ceremony christened the center with the name it carries today.
You don’t have to be an MTSU student to be helped by MTSU’s Daniels Center. All veterans and military families are welcome.
Huber had the help of late country music legend Charlie Daniels and his wife, Hazel, hence the name of the brick-and-mortar center. Prior to the center’s creation, Charlie and Hazel Daniels used to provide two music scholarships to veterans. That soon turned into the support of MTSU’s veterans center and its current work.
“He (Daniels) had just been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and at the rededication ceremony we had in 2016, he said this was as big of an honor for him and Hazel,” Huber says.
Even after Daniels’ passing, Huber and the now nicknamed Daniels Center still use the Grand Ole Opry as a platform to share how they can help those who served.
Serving veterans globally
The 3,200-square-foot center is in the heart of MTSU’s Murfreesboro campus, which is powered by Middle Tennessee Electric. The Daniels Center serves over 1,000 military-connected students and is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive veterans centers on an academic campus. Most importantly, though, it is a place full of enrollment, encouragement, employment, education and expansion.
“Anyone who walks through that door, whatever it is they need, we’re going to find a way to give them what they need,” says Hilary Miller, center director.
It’s basically a one-stop shop for those making the transition from military service to civilian life. Veteran students can study, socialize and get help from others who served. They can even get help with writing a resume and finding a career. Veterans and family members can also receive assistance from Veterans Affairs, including benefits, healthcare and cemetery services.
“We (veterans) are servant leaders, so we always have the opinion that we’re not worthy, that we all know somebody who needs it more,” Huber says. “We never want to take it from somebody. We always eat last. We don’t want to deprive. And so, my message is, there are sufficient resources, and the only people you’re depriving is yourself and your family.”
Providing for and finding the best resources for the family is something that hits home for Huber.
“I’ve never done anything heroic. I did what I was trained to do. I did what the person on my left and right expected me to do,” Huber says. “The real heroes were my wife, who had to be both mom and dad; my son; my daughter; and my grandchildren — all wondering if they’re ever going to see me again.”
That’s why the Daniels Center is also available for family members of veteran students — because they, too, are part of the challenging transition process. Here’s the best part, though: One doesn’t even have to be enrolled at MTSU to receive help. In 2023, the center addressed 16,000 phone calls, helping veterans enrolled and not as well as their family members, no matter the question or issue.
“The university allows me to serve veterans who have sacrificed everything to defend us and their families globally every day,” Huber says. “I’m forever appreciative of that.”
Serving students and their families
Bill Lickman and his family are products of the Daniels Center. Lickman served in the U.S. Air Force where he spent over 23 years in various law enforcement, security and intelligence positions, most of which were spent as a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He was one of 16 members assigned to the Joint Staff Military Security Force at the Pentagon and one of only four members on duty during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In August 2020, shortly after retiring from the Air Force, he enrolled at MTSU.
“From the time I first enrolled until today, the staff at the Daniels Center has always been a source that I knew I could go to when I needed assistance with school issues or VA benefits,” Lickman says. “The staff ensured my transition to college went as smoothly as possible, reducing the burden on my shoulders as a new student veteran.”
Lickman graduated this past May with a bachelor’s degree in video and film production with double minors in unmanned aircraft system operations and mass communication. His family’s story isn’t over with the center just yet, though. Both of his sons are now enrolled at MTSU and are receiving help, financially and career-wise.
“Transitioning from military to civilian life can be very challenging for many veterans and their families,” Lickman says. “It’s good to know that the Daniels Center is here to help facilitate that transition and remove some of the added stressors student veterans often face.”
Creating traditions that are here to stay
Aside from assistance, the center is home to many heartfelt traditions, the first being the stole ceremony. MTSU buys red stoles, which identify graduates as veterans. About a week or so before graduation, the center hosts the ceremony for the graduating veterans and their families. That event recognizes the branches in which the veterans served, what they did during their service and the degrees they are receiving. Employers are also in attendance from all around, looking to hire these graduates.
In honor of Veterans Day, every November, Huber has the opportunity to host the Armed Forces Salute where participants receive free music, barbecue and tickets to the MTSU football game.
“I lead thousands of veterans and their families across the field at Floyd Stadium at halftime,” Huber says.
Another tradition that has been created is a Veterans Memorial that serves as a 9/11 remembrance. The memorial wall contains the names of MTSU’s graduates who have died in combat since the university was created in 1911. The other side has 88 stars on it representing those names. Eight stars were added after 9/11, six after Iraq and two after Afghanistan. Beside the constellation of stars are the words, “To support and defend the Constitution.”
What’s next?
The center has plans in the works to expand the facilities by the end of the year, almost doubling the space.
“No matter what the situation is, we are here to help,” Miller says. “We are proud to be adding on to our space to better do that, and we’re eager to keep assisting those who served our country.”
As for what’s next for the retired lieutenant general, Huber says he has peace with the fact that this work will always be here even after he is gone.
“The Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center will continue caring for people as long as this university is here because it is part of the university,” Huber says. “It’s funded and staffed by the university. They have it here because they knew it was the right thing to do.”
Contact information
Phone: 615-904-8347
Email: [email protected]
Website: mtsu.edu/military
Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veteran and Military Family Center, Keathley University Center
Rooms 124 and 316
531 Champion Way, P.O. Box 74
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
