Pace University has opened a facility on its Pleasantville campus specifically aimed at serving students who are veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The Student Veterans Center not only will be a place for socializing, but also will be where the veterans can obtain information on how best to deal with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and find out about various educational benefits that student veterans are entitled to receive including the Forever GI Bill, Post-9/11 GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon Program and Vocational Rehab.
At the Sept. 21 ribbon cutting, Marvin Krislov, Pace”™s president, said, “We”™re so proud of our veterans. They”™ve sacrificed for their country and they”™re back and they”™re pursuing their degrees and we will do everything we can to support them and this space is going to do that. Pace University has a proud tradition of supporting student veterans and their families, and this new Student Veterans Center, our first space dedicated exclusively to their needs, will help us deliver on that mission.””™
Krislov thanked state Sen. Peter Harckham who secured a $200,000 grant that helped fund creation of the center, which is within the Kessel Student Center.
“Anyone who wears the uniform of our country, when they come back to civilian life and they want to be students, we owe it to them to do everything we can to empower them to be successful,” Harckham said. He related that his father, after returning from serving in World War II, enrolled in college on the GI Bill of Rights.
“He said he never felt like he fit in and so he stopped after a year,” Harckham said. “He later found success in life on a different path, but if he had a place like this where veterans could get together and network and share their experiences and help each other out and have access to resources maybe he would have made that path.”
Harckham said that these days, more veterans are pursuing higher education.
“Their needs differ somewhat from typical college students in terms of certain resources and socialization. Pace”™s Veterans Center is a recognition of this shift in the student body, and will be met with wide appreciation as a result,” Harckham said.
The interim Dean for Students Rachel Carpenter acted as the emcee at the event.
Steven Garcia, a Marine Corps veteran and past president of the Student Veterans of America”™s Pleasantville chapter, said, “Bringing veterans together at one central location will be great for the entire Pace community. This space will be essential in helping connect veterans with available resources at Pace and get them the support they need to be successful.”
Retired Col. Peter Riley, director of the Pace Office of Veterans Services, said, “Student veterans add to the diversity of the campus. It is terrific that veterans have their own center. It gives them a place to use the computers, study, relax, commiserate and support each other. Covid-19 might have delayed its opening, but could not prevent it.”
