NYC Division of Veterans Services applauds “tremendous work LIU is doing with the veteran population”
LIU Brooklyn took another important step forward to serve veterans this week when it opened the Student Veterans Resource Center. The ribbon cutting was held at an event with student veterans, top officials, and senior University officials.
The Student Veterans Resource Center will serve as a centralized point of contact for student veterans, with an on-site VISTA AmeriCorps representative working to help improve LIU’s services and programs, and a representative from the Department of Veterans Services present at least one day per week. It will utilize varied, comprehensive services from on and off-campus partners, provide meaningful opportunities to help student veterans build transferable skills, and serve as a meeting space for student veterans to connect with one another.
At the ceremony, Student Veterans Organization treasurer Christian Lopes talked about his experience at LIU Brooklyn, where he was welcomed and mentored by a veteran student peer. Lopes highlighted his positive experience and believes this new Resource Center will allow the University do even more to help veterans.
Other student veterans who support the project include Kuen Fung, who noted that the Resources Center will provide “a very strong foundation to unite the veteran community, and will be the link between the student veterans and what they want to do.”
Dr. Scott Krawczyk, Dean of the Richard L. Conolly College of Liberal Arts and Science, gave a dynamic speech about the need to support student veterans. Dr. Krawczyk came to LIU Brooklyn following a 30-year career in the United States Army, where he retired in 2015 at the rank of Brigadier General and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. He praised the tools available at the Resource Center and vowed to work as an advocate for student veterans to get them the support they need to succeed.
New York City Division of Veterans Services Assistant Commissioner for Whole Health and Community Resilience, Dr. Darlene Brown-Williams, spoke next applauding LIU Brooklyn for the opening of the Center and the newly formed partnership with the NYC DVS.
“DVS is honored to recognize the tremendous work LIU is doing with the veteran population,” Dr. Brown-Williams said. “Through this resource center, LIU is providing invaluable opportunities for student veterans to not just graduate from college, but to thrive both in school and in their pursuits beyond education, which is something that we are especially committed to at DVS.”
She talked about a new public-private partnership, the NYC Veterans Mentoring Initiative: Mentor A Vet-NYC. This partnership brings together City government, service providers, universities, and others to ensure that New York City veterans and their families have access to high-quality mentorship. This program is the City’s first contribution to a larger initiative for student veterans called Veterans on Campus–NYC.
Among the other senior leaders to attend the Ribbon Cutting were Assistant Dean Roland Robinson, Dean of Students Jessica Hayes, Dean Edgar Troudt, and Dean Karlene Thompson.
LIU Brooklyn has been rated by militaryfriendly.com as a “Gold” recipient for being a school that is friendly to veterans– http://militaryfriendly.com/schools/long-island-university/.
