Office of the Assemblies

Dear Juliana,<br /> <br />Thank you for sharing SA Resolution 33: Supporting the Establishment of a Veterans Resource Center.

Dear Juliana,<br /> <br />Thank you for sharing SA Resolution 33: Supporting the Establishment of a Veterans Resource Center. I appreciate the Student Assembly’s encouragement to increase on-campus support for veteran students through the creation of a resource center, knowledgeable staff, and a team room for effective recruitment, retention, and transition of veteran students.<br /> <br />You may be aware that Cornell currently has almost 70 certified veteran students, the majority of whom are enrolled in the professional and graduate schools. I have asked Vice President Lombardi and Senior Vice Provost/Dean Knuth to work with their teams to identify possibilities for supporting all of these veteran students better.<br /> <br />I understand a group of undergraduate student veterans, including leadership from the Cornell Undergraduate Veterans Association (CUVA), met at the end of the fall semester with Senior Vice Provost/Dean Knuth and her leadership team from Undergraduate Admissions, Financial Aid, and the Office of the University Registrar to hear student concerns and identify next steps for improving Cornell’s services with these students, and that Vice President Lombardi met with the president of CUVA at the end of the fall semester as well. I was pleased to learn that several improvements have already been identified and implemented, including assigning specific expert staff in Financial Aid and University Registrar to work directly with veteran students, and on the undergraduate admissions front, partnering with VetLink/Service 2 School on innovative recruitment processes that will help Cornell have better access to outstanding military veterans interested in attending college.<br /> <br />I look forward to learning proposed next steps from Vice President Lombardi and Senior Vice Provost/Dean Knuth.<br /> <br />Again, thank you for your efforts to support student veterans.<br /> <br />Sincerely,<br /> <br />Elizabeth Garrett