News

Hometown Hero: Mike and Colleen Drum

Mike Drum’s and Colleen Shuster’s amazing journey to Syracuse University began with both serving in the United States Marine Corps. Mike was born and raised in Syracuse, New York, and he enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve as an Infantry Rifleman in July 2010 following his high school graduation.

Hometown Hero: Jack Pullano

The United States Air Force Veteran Jack Pullano was born in Amherst, New York, and he was raised in Hopkinton, New York. Three weeks after graduating high school in 2017, Jack enlisted in the United States Air Force serving on active duty for four years. After completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and Fuels tech school in Wichita Falls, Texas, Jack received orders to Kadena, Air Base, located in Okinawa Japan. While stationed at Kadena, he was a Fuels Journeyman with the 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron and a member of the only Pacific Air Force’s Special Operations Forward Area Refueling Point Team under the 353rd Special Operations Group.

Student Veterans Take on Summer Internships Thanks to OVMA Internship Award

Over the 2022 summer semester, eight student veterans at Syracuse University were able to take part in a time-honored college experience that typically eludes non-traditional students–they became interns. They were able to experience the firsthand benefit of an internship thanks in large part to the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs’ (OVMA) Undergraduate Internship Award. The OVMA established the award to eliminate barriers that often prevent student veterans from participating in summer internships and deprive them of one of the most lucrative opportunities for job placement after graduation.

Hometown Hero: Melvin Stith, U.S. ARMY Veteran and Dean Emeritus of Whitman

Melvin Stith was born in Portsmouth, Virginia to Florence Stith and Millard Stith. In 1964, Mel graduated from Central High School in Jarratt, Virginia, a rural farming community between Emporia and Petersburg. Mel went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Norfolk State in 1968. After graduating from college, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Corps and was deployed to the Republic of Vietnam.

Hometown Hero: MSgt Alicia Gopee

United States Air Force, Master Sergeant, and Syracuse University Air Force ROTC Detachment 535 cadre member Alicia Gopee, hails from Brooklyn, New York. Master Sergeant Gopee enlisted into the United States Air Force on September 5, 2005, to become a Personnelist Journeyman, after residing in New York City and seeing firsthand, the direct impact of September 11th, 2001. She attended Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, and Technical School at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.

Hometown Hero: U.S. ARMY WWII Veteran and SU CoL Alumnus, Robert “Bob” Gang, Jr.

Robert “Bob” Gang, Jr. was born on June 6, 1918, in Syracuse, New York. He attended Christian Brothers Academy High School and entered Syracuse University in the fall of 1935. Bob joined the Syracuse University Army ROTC “Stalwart Battalion” program and was a member of the Pershing rifle team that practiced on a rifle range in the basement of Archbold Gymnasium.  After graduation in 1939, Bob enrolled in the College of Law.