Media Relations
Press Release:
MEDIA
CONTACT:
Toni
Wolf
561-297-3029, twolf4@fau.edu
FAU Forms Student Organization to
Provide Support to Student Veterans
BOCA RATON, FL (November 9, 2010) – Florida Atlantic University’s Division of Student Affairs recently created Veteran OWLS, a new student organization to offer peer mentoring to veterans making the transition from military service to collegiate and civilian life.
“These are men and women who’ve given of themselves for their country,” said Corey King, Ph.D., assistant vice president and dean of students at FAU. “Our responsibility is to provide them a pleasant and affordable education, and help veterans have a smooth and easy transition and feel welcomed by the University community.”
Each week, student veterans meet and are able to share their goals and frustrations, while proposing solutions to similar problems they’ve encountered. The group has more than 16 veteran members thus far.
“That kind of peer mentoring and camaraderie is the purpose of having a veterans’ organization on campus,” said Carlos Forero, FAU student veteran and co-founder of the Veteran Owls. “Our long-term goal is to have a place where veterans can check in after orientation that has the similarities of a U.S.O., a place where we can share our transitional experiences.”
The impetus for the Veteran OWLS organization came from the Board of Governors’ “Service2Scholars” initiative created in 2008, which assists returning veterans in attending a state university. FAU then created the Student Veterans Advisory Committee comprised of student veterans, faculty, staff, and community members to examine what services the University offered to veterans and what else might be needed.
The Veteran OWLS meet every Tuesday at 1 p.m. in the Sago Palm Room of FAU’s Student Union Building, 777 Glades Road,Boca Raton campus. For more information, contact Corey King, Ph.D., at 561-297-3542 or cking14@fau.edu, or visit www.VeteranOwls.com
-FAU-
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as
the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University
serves more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students on
seven campuses and sites. Building on its rich tradition as a
teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts 10
colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters,
the College of Business, the College for Design and Social
Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of
Engineering & Computer Science, the Graduate College, the
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt
College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. For more
information, visit
www.fau.edu.
