Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State's Montgomery Center for America's Veterans will launch its new "Green Zone" initiative Friday [Sept. 21] with a 2 p.m. ceremony in the YMCA Building lobby.
The event is free and open to all.
"Green Zone" is a campus-wide effort to raise awareness of and advocacy for student veterans attending the university. Office or work spaces across campus are displaying stickers or posters that identify their employees as veteran-friendly.
Ken McRae, the center's director, said the program seeks to promote a positive environment for student veterans, while also helping them build a campus support network.
"One of the key concerns for veterans who are transitioning to student life is navigating university and college departments," McRae observed.
"This initiative will help them understand and access departmental resources available to them," he added.
Tom Leavitt, a board member of the Aurora Foundation that helps fund the project, and Bill Kibler, MSU's vice president for student affairs, will make remarks.
Since being founded in 2008, the Fairfax, Va.-based foundation has worked to help improve veterans' chances for successful graduation from higher education institutions.
Leavitt is a 36-year military veteran whose management experience has included coordination of U.S. Army staff programs in support of Mideast military operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield.
For more information on the ceremony, contact the center at 662-325-6719 or pjhurst@saffairs.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see www.msstate.edu/.