College hosts Veterans Day dinner

More than 60 SUNY New Paltz students, faculty and staff veterans, service members and dependents attended the first-ever “Veterans Day Formal Dinner,” sponsored by the Office of Veteran and Military Services and the Office of Student Accounts, on Monday, Nov. 10.

“Tonight we honor our veterans on campus, both past and present, for their service to our great country,” said Jason Gilliland, coordinator of veteran and military services. “Events such as tonight are important and allow us the opportunity to come together as a campus family.”

Dr. Gerald Benjamin, director of the Center for Research, Regional Engagement, and Outreach (CRREO) and associate vice president for regional engagement, served as the evening’s keynote speaker.

“We need to seize this moment and have our exchange today be about more than recognizing sacrifice and service, more than celebratory or symbolic,” said Benjamin, a Vietnam veteran. “I suggest that we do this by taking a very local view, by focusing upon you and your relationship with the College, and the College’s relationship with you, and building community in pursuance of a shared mission.”

Since Gilliland joined the College in the spring, his office has coordinated and developed of a wide range of educational outreach, support, and referral services for SUNY New Paltz student veterans, service members, and their dependents.  For more information log on to http://www.newpaltz.edu/veterans/.