Representatives of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (V.F.W.), American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans for Peace, and the Coast Guard will post their colors starting at noon in the Kate Buchanan Room at University Center. The honor guard will be led by Mad River V.F.W Post 2542. Various dignitaries will be in attendance, including HSU President Rollin Richmond, Richard Talbott of the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Center, Pacific Western Region and Travis Holt, President of HSU’s Student Veterans Association.
Extending well beyond HSU’s past enrollment services, the new V.E.T.S program will provide tutoring, information exchange, housing opportunities and weekly on-campus liaison with the Redwood Veterans Center, the North Coast Veterans Resource Center, California’s Department of Employment Development, the Humboldt County Veterans Service Office and Dr. William Beegle, a private therapist. Expanded space will be available at HSU for veterans to meet other veterans on a regular basis. V.E.T.S. will be headquartered in the basement of the Humboldt State Library, Room 58.
“Through V.E.T.S., Humboldt State will become the number one veteran-oriented campus in California,” said Kim Hall, HSU Veterans Certification Officer. “We want HSU to be a home away from home for veterans, a safe learning environment that each alum will take with him or her in pursuit of a better future. We see V.E.T.S. as a gateway to the university and the community for our veterans.”
Hall liaises with Troops to College, a statewide mandate ordered by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to attract more veterans to California’s public universities and colleges. Colonel Bucky Peterson, Special Assistant to California State University Chancellor Charles Reed and head of the CSU taskforce to make the system’s 23 campuses more military-friendly, will attend the August 28 ceremonies in the Kate Buchanan Room.
Through HSU’s partnership of expanded services, veterans, their dependents and active military personnel have readier access to academic advising, course requirements, benefits counseling, work-study job opportunities, job counseling and training, employment searches, agency networking, assistance to unemployed and homeless veterans and counseling for combat veterans.
Hall can be reached at (707) 826-6191 and details are available at www.humboldt.edu/~ves.