2013 Tillman Scholar

Christina Fishback

Military Spouse
University of Kansas
MSW

Christina is the product of a family rooted in military service, with generations tracing back to the American Revolutionary War. As an Army Brat, she moved twelve times by the time she graduated from high school. Christina’s early exposure to volunteering in the military community shaped her passion for civic and community involvement. At the age of eleven, she volunteered to work with the American Red Cross while her father was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. While pursuing a Master’s Degree in History, Christina met and married her husband, who was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. Over the next ten years, due to Army assignments, she moved six times to include Fort Riley, Monterey, Fort Knox, Fort Bragg, Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Bliss. At each post, Christina remained constant in her volunteer efforts. At Fort Bragg she volunteered with the 82nd Airborne Division Wounded Warrior Committee, greeting returning wounded and hospitalized soldiers.

To further pursue her passion to work with veterans and military families in a professional capacity, Christina obtained a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas in 2015 after being selected as a Tillman Scholar. Currently, she is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) with the goal of obtaining a clinical social work license. Most recently, Christina’s efforts have focused on advocating for military spouses and petitioning state governments to ease the licensure restrictions for military spouses who, despite being well educated and well qualified for jobs within their communities, face high rates of unemployment due to frequent relocation and disparate state regulations for specialized jobs.