UT’s Veteran Resource Center will celebrate the campus’s veterans and active duty service members by hosting a Veterans Day luncheon and launching a new monthly electronic newsletter.
Students, faculty, and staff who are veterans or active military will receive invitations by email to the November 11 luncheon and should RSVP. The luncheon will feature guest speaker Associate Head Basketball Coach Rob Lanier. Organizers say they hope the luncheon becomes an annual Veterans Day commemoration on campus. The luncheon is sponsored by the Veterans Resource Center and the Office of the University Registrar.
The Veterans Resource Center will debut its new monthly electronic newsletter with a special Veteran’s Day edition. The newsletter will go to student veterans with the intention of connecting veteran alumni and campus members.
For the first newsletter, UT employees are invited to nominate family members who are—or were—veterans in any branch of the military during any conflict or era. To nominate someone, contact the newsletter staff at utkva@utk.edu.
The Veteran Resource Center, now located in temporary quarters on the fourth floor of Dunford Hall, Rooms 2417 and 2418, is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. The center provides assistance and guidance to UT’s active duty service members, veterans, reservists, guardsmen, and family members using Veterans Affairs educational benefits. A permanent home for the campus’s Veteran Resource Center is currently under construction on the ground floor of John C. Hodges Library next to OneStop. It is scheduled to open late spring 2017.
Linda Hinkle, an Army veteran and graduate student in social work, said she feels fortunate to be working as graduate assistant at the Veterans Resource Center as her first-year internship.
“It is incredible to have the opportunity to work with our veterans to tailor programs specifically to veteran needs,” she said. “For veterans, by veterans—which is the way it should be.”
Josh Dillard, a senior in social work, is an Army veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He said he’s found great support at UT.
“The people at the university care so much for their students,” Dillard said. “They helped me transition from the military into this massive university. I am extremely proud to be a Volunteer.”
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CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)