University of Virginia issued the following announcement on Sept. 9
Veterans are non-traditional students, and as such have non-traditional needs.
To help meet these needs, the University of Virginia has created a Student Veterans Center in Newcomb Hall.
“It is designed as a gathering space for veterans, particularly our undergraduate veteran population,” said David Sauerwein, an assistant dean of students who worked on the center. “They have some specific needs that are tied also to their non-traditional age. With their experience serving and their life experience, they are often in a different developmental place than many UVA undergraduates. Some are married, some have children and they are sometimes not seeking out the same undergraduate experiences as other students.”
The center, a joint project of the Student Veterans of America @ UVA, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Jefferson Trust, officially opened Thursday, with University President Jim Ryan among those delivering remarks.
“Veterans add to the richness of our community, bringing a variety of perspectives that add depth to our classrooms,” said David Sauerwein, an assistant dean of students who worked on the center.
Ryan told the veterans at the opening ceremony that the center was a place for them to build a community, develop themselves and to take advantage of the center’s educational and social programming.
“And it’s a place that I hope will help remind you that you belong here at UVA,” Ryan said. “No matter where you are from, or whether you are the first in your family to attend college, whether you are a graduate or undergraduate student, or what your background is, you are welcome here, and you are also part of what makes us the University of Virginia. You are part of what makes us among the most vibrant university communities in the world. When you graduate, I know that you will have helped to shape this place, just as UVA will have helped to shape you.”
Ryan said it was a difficult time for veterans and the country, with the challenge of the pandemic and recent events in Afghanistan, noting that veterans bring different perspectives and emotions with them.
“I feel heartbroken at the tragic loss of life since our time in Afghanistan and deeply grateful to those who have sacrificed so much to make the world a better place,” Ryan said. “I also learned that some of you are involved in a program to help refugees from Afghanistan. This doesn’t surprise me, given your extraordinary commitment to service, but it does inspire me. Because that is what UVA is all about: using your time here to lead, to serve others, and to engage with the world even when doing so might require sacrifice. It is what makes UVA great and good.”
UVA President Jim Ryan said it was a difficult time for veterans and the country, with the challenge of the pandemic and recent events in Afghanistan, noting that veterans bring different perspectives and emotions with them.
Other speakers included Student Veteran’s Association President Tim Brown and Jeffrey Lovelace, an assistant professor of commerce at the McIntire School of Commerce and a veteran who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Lovelace said student veterans across the country, despite their experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, are underrepresented at top institutions of higher learning. He noted that UVA had agreed in 2014 to a set of U.S. Department of Education guidelines to help veterans succeed and the center was a key step in that process.
“The mission of UVA is to develop responsible citizen-leaders and professionals,” Lovelace said. “Who better to be a part of that mission than a group of students who have already proven themselves to be citizen-leaders, leaders with real-world experience, who volunteered to go into the most complex and stressful environments imaginable to support our nation and the freedom of others around the world. Further, one of the greatest things about our military is how it reflects the wonderful diversity that makes our country so special. Our student veterans come from all types of backgrounds, but they have all demonstrated a commitment to serving others above themselves. This epitomizes what we value here at UVA.”
Original source can be found here.
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