News

Pat Tillman Foundation Announces its 2020 Tillman Scholars

Today, June 12, 2o2o, ​the Pat Tillman Foundation (PTF) announced the names of the 60 U.S. service members, veterans and military spouses chosen as 2020 Tillman Scholars. In recognition of their service and leadership potential, the newly selected class will receive scholarship funding to pursue higher education and continue their service in the fields of healthcare, business, law, public service, STEM, education and the humanities. For the full list of 2020 Tillman Scholars, along with their service branches, institutions and fields of study, please visit ​http://scholars.ptf.org​.

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Announcing The Syracuse University 2020 Tillman Scholar Laura Buys

Syracuse University was invited to become a Pat Tillman Foundation University Partner in 2017. The Tillman Scholar program unites and empowers remarkable military veterans and spouses as the next generation of public and private sector leaders committed to service beyond self. Syracuse University shares these ideals and is proud to support Tillman Scholars on our campus.

Syracuse University is proud to announce the 2020 Tillman Scholar: Laura Buys.

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Former ROTC Cadet Savanna Clendining Pursues her Master’s Degree by Applying Practical Skills Learned at Syracuse

For two years, 1st Lt. Savanna Clendining G’22 has risen early in the morning to attend her online classes for the Newhouse School of Public Communication’s master’s program while stationed in Vincenza, Italy, serving the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne). She has attended class on a mountainside in Slovenia and from a cliff in the Dolomite Mountains in northern Italy. Doing coursework by flashlight inside of a darkened tent hasn’t stopped Clendining from working toward her graduate degree, and neither has the coronavirus.

Savanna Clindining

In 2013, Clendining enrolled at Le Moyne College and majored in communications. In her sophomore year, she participated in Le Moyne College’s partnership with Syracuse University and became an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadet. “Based on my experience, I think Syracuse University has one of the best ROTC programs in the country,” Clendining says. “The skills that I learned in the Stalwart Battalion at Syracuse University set me up for success.”

She now serves as a medical operations officer in Italy, and her experience in the medical field has mostly been learned on the job. So far, no one in the 173rd has tested positive for COVID-19. “We’ve tested over 50 people and all of those tests have come back negative, which is incredible because we’re in the middle of where the infection rate is pretty bad,” Clendining says.

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American Flag Raised Over National Veterans Resource Center

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we could not be in person to hold the flag ceremony but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the significance of the moment. As Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie has said, “For me, what’s most important about the NVRC is what the building represents. It’s about Syracuse University and our community, communicating a long-term commitment to those women and men who have shouldered the cause of the nation’s defense. It’s about planting that flag.”

OVMA and SVO Announce Yearly Awards Celebrating Student Veterans’ Achievements

Syracuse University’s Student Veterans Organization (SVO) and the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA) are presenting five awards to student veterans in honor of their significant and notable achievements. The awards are normally announced at SVO’s Annual Ball and Awards Banquet, but the 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the winners were instead announced in a Zoom “virtual lunch.”


See the award winners