News

Notable Veteran Alumni: Steve Kroft

May 13, 2015

Steve Kroft is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1945, Steve Kroft was destined to become a journalist. He attended Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communication, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1967 and was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Like many other young college graduates during the Vietnam War, Kroft was drafted into the U.S. Army and assigned to the 25^th Infantry Division in Cu Chi, a district of Ho Chi Mihn City (formerly Saigon). Once in Vietnam, Kroft’s journalistic abilities were soon recognized by the Army and he became a reporter for the Armed Services Network, reporting on American progress in Vietnam, in addition to covering the 25^th Infantry Division’s invasion of Cambodia. Kroft’s journalistic abilities led him much success in the Army, winning multiple Army journalism awards and a Bronze Star for meritorious achievement in a combat zone.

After his honorable discharge from the Army in 1971, Kroft returned to Syracuse, working as a broadcast journalist for WSYR-TV for three years. He later left Syracuse and studied at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism, earning his master’s degree in 1975. Kroft then went to Florida, working for the Washington Post in Jacksonville and WPLG-TV in Miami, where his work was noticed by CBS News. While in Miami, Kroft was offered, and later accepted, a correspondent position in CBS News’ Northeast Bureau in 1980. He later joined the Dallas bureau for two years before returning to Miami to cover Latin and South America, during which he famously covered the US invasion of Grenada and the civil war in El Salvador.

CBS News transferred Kroft to their London office, having recognized his knack for telling the most pressing stories of the time. There, he produced one of his most famous segments for 60 Minutes on the assassination of Indira Gandhi, for which he received his first Emmy Award. He later served as the principal correspondent for a CBS News magazine show, West 57^th, until 1989, when he joined the award-winning 60 Minutes as a correspondent. Throughout his tenure on Sixty Minutes, Kroft has received significant critical praise, winning 11 Emmy Awards, five Peabody Awards, and two Columbia University DuPont Awards. His success has taken him from the contaminated fields of Chernobyl, Ukraine to Iraq during the Gulf War, to the violence in Northern Ireland, to the White House with his famous exclusive interview with Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1992, which many say was one of the defining moments of the 1992 presidential election.

Kroft’s success and incredible resume with CBS News has garnered him a great deal of success and recognition. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from Indiana University, Binghamton University, and Long Island University, in addition to having received the University of Albany’s Medallion of the University and Syracuse University’s prestigious George Arents Award, the highest honor Syracuse University bestows upon its alumni.

Kroft remains engaged with Syracuse University, from lectures and talks in the S.I Newhouse School of Communications to serving as a life trustee on the Syracuse University Board of Trustees. Syracuse University continues to hold Steve Kroft in the highest regard as one of its most successful alumni.

Steve Kroft is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Maxwell MSSc helped me continue a lifetime of service

May 11, 2015

Written by Chris Farlow

The Master of Social Science program was an ideal fit for me personally and professionally. While I was serving on active duty, a traditional full residency graduate program was unmanageable due to frequent deployments and a hectic work schedule that involved unusual shifts and being on-call. The MSSc program at Syracuse offered many of the benefits of a traditional graduate school experience blended with the flexibility of distance learning and, of course, I was able to take off an occasional semester due to a deployment. After I attended the first residency, I established relationships with other students and faculty that I still maintain ten years later, and those interactions made the distance coursework much more rewarding.

As I transitioned from active duty into the reserves, the MSSc was an enormous help to me in being selected to become a U.S. diplomat. Of the 22 people who competed on my interview day with the State Department in 2010, only two of us were selected, and coincidentally (or not?), both of us were military veterans who had attended the Maxwell School. The program still continues to benefit my reserve career, and was a necessary part of being selected to the Foreign Area Officer program, which required an advanced degree in international or regional studies, and my MSSc degree was accredited. I now serve as a reserve defense attaché, representing the U.S. military in U.S. Embassies in Africa and the Middle East.

One thing I would like to emphasize to veterans is the advantage of a blended program like the MSSc program. If you’re simply pursuing your graduate degree purely by distance learning, you don’t often have the opportunity to socialize and trade ideas with high-caliber graduate students in professions far different than your own. At Syracuse, I remember some of my fellow students were college admissions officers, regional managers of non-profit charities, political strategists, and high School history teachers. They all had different perspectives on international affairs than I did, and I think that they gained perspective through academic exchange with a veteran.

Chris Farlow is currently the Vice Consul of the United States in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and previously served as a diplomat in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Washington, D.C. Prior to becoming a diplomat, he served eight years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He completed the MSSc program at Syracuse in 2009 and graduated from the University of South Florida in 2000. He continues to serve in the Air Force Reserve, as does his wife, Anne. He is originally from Bishopville, Maryland, and speaks English, French, and Russian.

Transition as a Means to Meaning

May 8, 2015

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking at an end-of-year gathering of student veterans here at Syracuse University. The week leading up to this event had included some personally challenging issues for me, and for that reason the task of considering what message of value I might share with these student-veterans took a turn toward something more personal and self-reflective, a contrast to what is my traditional norm and custom (and usual comfort).

In the time since that speech, and given that a great many veterans are graduating from America’s colleges and universities this month, more than a few of the event’s attendees have reached out and encouraged me to share my words from that evening with other veterans. Those words – thoughts and self-reflections on the meaning of my own transition from military life – are (somewhat reluctantly) presented below.

By: Dr. Mike Haynie

Good evening, and thank you all for the opportunity to celebrate with you tonight.

I’ll make one promise right from the outset of my remarks – that is, I promise not to spend too much time behind this podium. Tonight I’ll take a cue from President Roosevelt’s playbook when it comes to giving a speech. Roosevelt said the objective of good public speaking is to “be sincere, be brief, and be seated.” You have my word that I’ll be seated very soon!

As I considered what to say tonight, my initial thought was to speak about the much discussed topic of navigating the different pathways of transition from military to civilian life, as if I know something about what that means for all of you.

This is a topic I’m asked to speak about often. However, truth be told, in front of this group – in front of family – I’d feel like a phony having that conversation. I say that because any words and thoughts I’d ascribe to that issue, would imply that I know something about what that journey looks like, and how you all should proceed.

Truth be told, if I can share my own vulnerabilities, I’ll say honestly and candidly – in a way that’s NO different from many of my fellow veterans in this room – that I’m still on that journey myself.

I say that because what’s most ironic about my post-service journey, particularly given my current role at Syracuse University as Vice Chancellor for Military and Veteran Affairs, is that when I came to SU in 2006 – after 14 years of active duty military service – I was honestly and truly running away from my military-self. For my own reasons, that maybe I’ll share on another day, I was done.

I’ve said before that I decided to leave the military because I wanted to be a college professor, which on the surface is a true statement. However more deeply, I was motivated to chase something that I had once found, and then lost. Put differently, more and more I found myself grieving for what I was, before the military made me something different. Not worse, in many ways better, but certainly different than the very carefree ‘kid’ I was on the day I was commissioned.

That might be a sentiment that resonates with some of you in this room.

You see, for many people the natural process of growing-up – perceiving and internalizing a sense of responsibility and accountability for yourself and others – is something that happens gradually and incrementally over time. But it didn’t happen that way for me, just like it didn’t happen that way for many of you.

They put 2^nd lieutenant rank on my shoulders when I graduated from college, and I assume at that same event someone probably gave a speech about how and why this transition from cadet to officer will change my perspective on life. I say that I assume, because I’m sure I wasn’t listening.

Truth be told, some 5 or 6 years into my military career, in my mind I was still that same college kid. I didn’t take too much, too seriously. I had no idea what I wanted to ‘be’ when I grew up, because I didn’t really understand what ‘grown-up’ meant.

Don’t get me wrong, I was proud of my service, and worked hard to do the best job I could, with whatever task the military handed me. However I didn’t take the military, as seriously as the military took itself. And then, one day, all that changed.

It was a day and an experience that even now, I remember so clearly, so emotionally – and selfishly, a day and an experience that I remember with deep regret, for reasons that make me feel intensely guilty.

It was the summer of 2001, and I had recently arrived at the U.S. Air Force Academy to begin an assignment as member of the USAFA faculty. My boss had assigned me to teach introduction to accounting, which could only be described as pure torture. However, true to form I was determined that I was going to have some fun with this, even in spite of the fact that I learned very quickly that even ‘fun’ at the Academy has a way of going bad very quickly. So, in the face of overt disdain, ridicule, contempt directed at me by some of my fellow instructors, I proceeded to design an entire semester of accounting lessons around the exploits of Bart, Lisa, Homer, and the rest of the Simpson family. The cadets loved it, but my boss, not so much. It was perfect.

My class started at 0730 each morning. Just a few weeks into the fall semester of 2001, I was in the office early to put the finishing touches on the daily balance sheet for the Springfield Quikimart – when out of the corner of my eye I caught the news playing on the TV. A civilian airliner had impacted the World Trade Center.

Word came very quickly to us that this wasn’t an accident, and I rushed down to my classroom to be with my students. I arrived to find 40 scared, angry, and confused cadets. In a way uncharacteristic for a ‘Haynie classroom,’ nobody was speaking – it was dead quiet. We sat together in silence, watching the TV, and then watching as a second plane hit the second tower. One cadet finally broke the quiet, and she said, “Captain Haynie, this is going to change everything, isn’t it?”

Without really processing what she had said, I responded “for all of you…forever.”

For me, that’s when it happened. That’s the first time I actually remember feeling like an adult. At that moment I recall perceiving, for the first time, social and psychological ‘distance’ between myself, and the 21 year-old kids I was teaching.

Importantly however, in that distance, I also found profound personal meaning – and I realized that like for them, everything would change for me as well.

I say that – and share this story tonight – because for me, it was at that moment when my transition journey began. To be clear, it would be 5 more years before I actually took off the uniform. But without a doubt, my transition started that day, in that room. It started with those kids looking at me for answers, because it was at that point that I knew what form my life’s work would take. I was going to be a teacher.

The simple point I’m trying to make – and that I’d hope you reflect on as you consider where your post-military service journey will take you – is that we’re all transitioning all the time. Life is all about the transition – from somewhere, to someone…from today, to tomorrow. That said, I think many of us spend too much time and energy getting hung-up on the notion of ‘navigating’ the transition – particularly the transition from military-to-civilian life – as if the ‘transition’ itself is an end-state to be accomplished, rather than the means to something greater and more meaningful.

What I’m suggesting is that successfully navigating’s life’s transitions – particularly the transition from military to civilian life – actually has very little to do with mapping out the ‘right’ path: who you work for today, or tomorrow…where you’ll live…what school you’ll attend…or even whether you’re still wearing a uniform. Instead what I’ve learned, not always so gracefully, is that the most successful transitions are the ones where we act based on answers to ‘why’ questions, as opposed to ‘how’ questions; that is, we’re better served when we frame life’s transitions NOT as designing a process exercise to get us from A to B, but instead as a means to ask and answer the question, does getting to B even matter? Why?

In conclusion, my wish for all of you is that you don’t avoid opportunities for transition, but instead – borrowing words and sentiment from John F. Kennedy – that you enthusiastically embrace change and transition as the “law of life,” and come to understand why “those who look only to the past or present, are certain to miss the future.” Moreover, my hope for all of you is that you spend a bit less time and energy on obsessing about what is the ‘right’ pathway along your post-service journey, so that you have a chance to actually live meaning-filled lives along the way.

You have certainly earned that opportunity. Thank you and good night.

Notable Veteran Alumni: Joseph “Beau” Biden III

May 7, 2015

Joseph “Beau” Biden III is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Biden III, the eldest son of former Senator and current Vice President Joe Biden, was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. Following his father’s footsteps, Beau attended his father’s high school alma mater, Archmere Academy, was a member of the same fraternity, Psi Upsilon, at the University of Pennsylvania, and continued to Syracuse University College of Law.

Biden began his career in public service shortly after graduation from law school. First, he served as a clerk for Judge Steven McAuliffe of the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire. A year later, he joined the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Policy Development as a counselor, where he worked on issues such as the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Violence against Women Act. From 1997 until 2002, Beau served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia. He later turned to private practice as a partner in the Wilmington-based law firm of Bifferato, Gentilotti, Biden & Black.

Beau Biden 2 While working in the private sector, Biden joined the Delaware Army National Guard in 2003 as a member of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. Notably, he served as Interim Legal Advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice in post-war Kosovo, assisting in the development of a law enforcement and criminal justice system.

Elected in 2006 as Delaware’s Attorney General, Joseph Beau Biden III took office and served two consecutive terms. In his first term on October 2008, the 261st Signal Brigade was activated for a 12-month deployment supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq, during which Beau delegated his Attorney General responsibilities to serve. In November 2011 Beau Biden was promoted to the rank of Major.

Protecting children was among Biden’s highest priorities as attorney general, evident through his creation of a Child Predator Task Force. Beau assisted in making Delaware a national leader in the fight to protect children from predators by successfully pushing for tougher, mandatory prison sentences for child predators and distributors of child pornography. In addition, Beau created the Mortgage Fraud Task Force, designed to protect homeowners from consumer fraud and help stop the rising tide of foreclosures. The Task Force’s work with the Consumer Protection Unit resulted in what is believed to be the largest mortgage rescue fraud indictment in Delaware’s history.

Beau Biden 2 Notably, in 2011, Beau was honored with the Voice of Courage Award from Darkness to Light (D2L), a national nonprofit organization working to empower and teach adults to prevent child sexual abuse; and in 2013, Beau was awarded the LifeLock Ultimate Award for his efforts to fight identity theft, improve online safety and educate children about cybersecurity. Described by many, Beau Biden was a careful, cautious, and deliberate politician, who shunned the limelight to focus on the issues at hand.

Beau Biden passed away May 30th, 2015 and is survived by his wife, Hallie, and two children.

Joseph “Beau” Biden III is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Major General Peggy Combs to Administer Oath of Office to Army and Air Force ROTC Cadets at May 8 Commissioning Ceremony

May 7, 2015

CNY Native, Alumna of Oriskany High School and Syracuse University, and First Woman to command the U.S. Army Cadet Command, to speak at SU ROTC Commissioning Ceremony

Major General Peggy C. Combs, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Cadet Command and Fort Knox, Kentucky, will deliver the keynote address and administer the oath of office to 20 cadets from the Army and Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at the 2015 Commissioning Ceremony on Friday, May 8, 2015. The ceremony will begin at 5 p.m., and be held in Hendricks Chapel on the Syracuse University campus.

Major General Combs is a native of Central New York, having graduated from Oriskany High School in 1981. She received the Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Syracuse University in 1985, is a distinguished military graduate of Syracuse University’s ROTC, and was commissioned as a Regular Army Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Chemical Corps.

Major General Combs’s assignments include being the Joint Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Operations Officer for United States Central Command (CENTCOM) during Operation Enduring Freedom, as the Chief of Staff for the Iraq Training and Advisory Mission, United States Forces-Iraq duty at the National Ground Intelligence Center, and Chief of the Full Dimension Protection Division for the US Army Pentagon. She most recently served as the 27th Chief of Chemical and Commandant, US Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. From 21 May to 27 August 2013, Major General Combs simultaneously served as the Commanding General, US Army Training Center and Fort Jackson, Fort Jackson, South Carolina. On 6 March 2014, Major General Combs assumed command of the US Army Cadet Command and Fort Knox, Kentucky. Visit http://www.cadetcommand.army.mil/commanding-general.aspx for a complete biography.

Twenty cadets from five local colleges will be commissioned as officers in the Army and Air Force at the 2015 Commissioning Ceremony. Syracuse University is the host institution for Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC. Students from the following institutions may enroll in Army ROTC at Syracuse: Cazenovia College, Colgate University, Hamilton College, Le Moyne College, Morrisville State College, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and Utica College. Students from the following institutions may enroll in AFROTC at Syracuse: Cazenovia College, Columbia College, Hamilton College, Le Moyne College, Mohawk Valley Community College, Morrisville State College, Onondaga Community College, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and Utica College.

The Syracuse University Army ROTC unit was established in spring 1919. Following World War II, Syracuse was one of the original 77 universities to house an Air ROTC unit starting in fall 1946. With the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate service in 1947, it became known as Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC).

About the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs:

The Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA) serves as Syracuse University’s single point of entry for all veteran and military related programs and initiatives. Committed to being the “Best Place for Veterans,” OVMA assists university stakeholders to support and empower veteran, military connected, and military family member students and employees who are veterans at Syracuse University.

# # #

Media Contact:

Wayne Westervelt

Director of Communications

Office of Veteran and Military Affairs

(315) 4435690

wwesterv@syr.edu

Scholar Spotlight: Jesse Campion ’15

May 5, 2015

Written by Cindy Moritz for Syracuse University News

As an undergraduate at Temple University, Jesse Campion never thought he would end up in the military. But then 9/11 happened. “That kind of shifted the tide,” he says. After graduating in 2002, he started learning more about the benefits of the military, enlisted, and left for basic training in November 2003.

Q. How did your military service progress?

A. I wanted to learn from the ground up and started out as a vehicle mechanic and paratrooper, stationed with the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. I worked my way up to sergeant, and about halfway through my service I was recommended for Officer Candidate School. That began the second chapter of my military career. After OCS, I was commissioned and served as an infantry officer. It culminated with me going to U.S. Army Ranger School in 2007 and eventually leading a platoon into combat in 2008. With Ranger School, that was a special accomplish for me. My grandfather, who was an Army Ranger during World War II, served with 5^th Ranger Battalion and was part of the invasion at D-Day. I grew up being proud of his sacrifices for our country. He was able to make the trip to Fort Benning, Ga., for the graduation and pin the Ranger tab on me. Overall, I honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant in 2009. I served for a total of six years in the military with two deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom—one being a year in Mosul, Iraq.

Q. What came next for you?

A. I decided to go to law school. It had been a dream of my mother’s, but she died of cancer in 2005. I always had a strong interest in going to law school. The GI Bill had been revamped in 2008 to allow for minimal to debt-free education for transitioning veterans. So about a two years after I got out of the service, I took the LSAT and started applying to law schools. Given the opportunities for veterans and national security study, I decided to come to Syracuse University College of Law, where I’m a third-year student. I’m also earning a master’s in public affairs from the Maxwell School and a certificate of advanced study in security studies from the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

Q. How has it been coming back to school after all those years in the military?

A. It’s been a great experience, and has given me so many options. But there have been a lot of trials and tribulations along the way, and it’s certainly been a lot of hard work. I’ve currently done long distance from my wife for the past three years, which has been stressful at times. I’ve been very lucky in that I was selected for a couple of great internships and I’ve found supportive professors and colleagues who believe in me. My wife has been the biggest pillar of support for me during this uncertain journey. The summer after my first year, I worked as a legal intern with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Counsel. Last summer, I was a legislative fellow in the office of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

In addition, I was fortunate in the support that I got. The nonprofit veterans group Soldier Socks awarded me their 2014-15 academic scholarship. And just recently, I was named a 2015 Presidential Management Fellow. That is a two-year leadership development program that fast-tracks graduate students into leadership development roles in the federal government. Just seven percent of applicants were chosen at finalists this year out of close to 8,000 PMF applicants.

Q. What’s ahead for you after graduation?

A. I am now applying for different positions as a Presidential Management Fellow. I’d like to work in the national security or foreign policy field, and develop as a senior leader in federal government. Ultimately, I would like to learn as much as possible and work my way up into Senior Executive Service and one day, a presidential appointee.

Via Syracuse University News

Campus Community Invited to Voluntarily Confirm Military Status through MySlice

May 4, 2015

As part of the University’s efforts to distinguish Syracuse University as one of the nation’s leading institutions for veterans, and to recognize the important contributions that veterans and their families make to the University every day, a new Military Status Self-Service feature is now available in MySlice.

“Providing an easy-to-use self-service feature is a critical component in our vision of being the premier university for veterans,” says Vice Chancellor for Veterans and Military Affairs Mike Haynie. “It provides a way for us to more fully understand the military status of students, faculty and staff and their dependents at Syracuse University, knowledge that helps the University better serve its veterans and their families.”

All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to voluntarily enter or update their current/prior military status or indicate their status as a dependent using military benefits by logging into MySlice and answering a maximum of six short questions. Find the “Personal Services” section, click on the “View/Update Military Status” link and follow the prompts. These actions are entirely voluntary, as is participation in any veterans-related programming.

Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Andy Gordon says the new Military Status Self-Service feature will also simplify the Office of Human Resources’ onboarding process and provide more reliable data to meet the University’s reporting requirements.

“By voluntarily providing current or prior military status,” Gordon says, “our students, faculty and staff are helping us to enhance and expand programs that address the needs and interests of veterans and military families and advance post-service success.”

Campus community members who indicate their current or prior military status also will be able to receive current information through Syracuse University and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families about resources and programs for which they qualify.

If you have any questions, call the HR Service Center at 315-443-4042 or hrservic@syr.edu.

Notable Veteran Alumni: Alan Gerry

April 29, 2015

Alan Gerry is a longtime benefactor and steward of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story – one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

The son of Russian immigrants, Alan Gerry’s hometown was Liberty, NY. During WWII, Gerry dropped out of high school to join the United States Marine Corps and was placed in its electronics program.

After the war and with funding through the G.I. Bill, Mr. Gerry received vocational training that enabled him to start a tiny television repair business in 1951. Four years later in 1956, Gerry took $1,500 from his business and borrowed another $20,000 from seven local businessmen to create a cable TV company. He named the company Liberty Video initially, but after expansion into Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, he renamed it to Cablevision Industries grew it into a major enterprise.

Gerry’s company filled a clear market demand and became the country’s eighth-largest cable provider and largest privately owned cable company in the U.S., with 64 cable systems, 2,500 employees and 1.3 million subscribers in 18 states. In 1996, Alan Gerry sold Cablevision Industries to Time Warner Cable (TWC) for $2.7 billion, which landed him on the Forbes list of wealthiest people in America. Business Insider named him one of the 20 top billionaires to start literally from nothing.

Alan Gerry later founded Granite Associates, LP, an investment company focused on startup companies and emerging technologies in telephony and communications. He currently serves as chairman and CEO, assisting others hoping to make an impact in the communications industry as he had done.

Alan Gerry’s philanthropic and civic engagement goes on, as he created the Gerry Foundation, an organization dedicated to stimulating the economic revitalization of Sullivan County, NY. In addition, Gerry purchased and resurrected the original 1969 Woodstock festival site, renaming it the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts; established the Paul Gerry Dialysis Center in Sayre, Pennsylvania; and, along with other medical donations, is involved in Boston University’s research program in finding a cure for amyloidosis, a rare disease of the kidneys and heart. Alan Gerry continues to be a major benefactor of schools, colleges, medical institutions, and investment companies.

Accolades in the communications industry include his Vanguard Award in 1995 and induction into the Cable Television Hall of Fame in 2000. Gerry also received the Entrepreneur-of-the-Year Award from the New England chapter of the Institute of American Entrepreneurs, the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy Scouts of America, and the Americanism Award from the Anti-Defamation League. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Roger Williams University and one in Humane Letters from the State University of New York.

Notably, Alan Gerry maintains a long-standing philanthropic affiliation with Syracuse University, serves on our Board of Trustees, and is the namesake of the Alan Gerry Center for Media Innovation at the Newhouse School of Public Communications. Alan Gerry is an innovator, a philanthropist, and a family man, exemplifying dedication to the progression of communication and technological advances.

Alan Gerry is a benefactor and steward of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

SU’s Executive Director of Veteran and Military Affairs Inducted into OCS Hall of Fame

April 28, 2015

SU’s Executive Director of Veteran and Military Affairs Inducted into OCS Hall of Fame

Col (Ret) Ron Novack is enshrined into the Officer Candidate School’s Hall of Fame at the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center

Col (Ret) Ron Novack, executive director of the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs at Syracuse University, was inducted into the Officer Candidate School (OCS) Hall of Fame at the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center on Monday, April 27. The OCS Hall of Fame recognizes inductees who have led distinguished careers, both in the military and civilian life.

“I am humbled by this induction,” said Col (Ret) Novack. “I never thought when I graduated from OCS in 1990, as a second lieutenant, that I would someday be recognized as a member of the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame.”

Col (Ret) Novack served over 32 years in the United States Army, both enlisted and as an officer. He was commissioned as a Field Artillery Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School (Class 1-90) and became a Quartermaster Officer in 1992. His most recent command position was as commander, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, in Fort Stewart, Ga., which included a nine-month deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. His command positions included commander, 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, in Fort Drum, N.Y., with a 15-month deployment to Kirkuk, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; and as commander of Headquarters and Alpha Company, 407th Forward Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., and the Supply and Services Troop Commander, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (Airborne) in Fort Bragg, N.C. Col (Ret) Novack has five combat deployments to both Afghanistan and Iraq, and three of those combat tours were with the 10^th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y.

“Col Novack is well-deserving of this high-level distinction,” said Dr. Mike Haynie, Syracuse University’s vice chancellor for veteran and military affairs. “Ron’s more than three decades of service to his country and leadership as an officer in the United States Army will forever be recognized by his inclusion in this highly esteemed Hall of Fame.”

A voting board is used to select nominees to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Board consists of the Commandant, USAAS, Commandant, USAIS, 199th Infantry Brigade Commander, Commander, two Qualified retired OCS HOF members, Commander, 3rd BN, 11th Infantry Regiment and the Commanding General, USAIS. A majority vote is required for selection.

About the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA)

The Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA) serves as Syracuse University’s single point of entry for all veteran and military related programs and initiatives. It collaborates and coordinates with all stakeholders to best serve veterans, military connected students, and military family members who are students or employees at Syracuse University.

Syracuse Welcomes 10th Mountain Division for Fort Drum Combine

April 27, 2015

Syracuse Welcomes 10th Mountain Division for Fort Drum Combine

‘Cuse strengthens bond with Fort Drum in latest event

The strong relationship between the Syracuse football program and Fort Drum added another element on Monday as members of the 10th Mountain Division participated in the first Syracuse Football Fort Drum Combine at the Ensley Athletic Center.

The soldiers participated in drills members of the Orange participate in at the NFL Combine and Syracuse Pro Day, under the supervision of the coaching staff and current student-athletes, creating another opportunity for members of the program to bond with the soldiers from Fort Drum.

“For us it’s always great for us to spend time with the troops because what they do is for real,” said head coach Scott Shafer. “We have great appreciation for what they do so we can go out here, play football and have a good time and not worry about the well-being of our country because we’re defended so well by these men and women.”

The day began with the troops going through a warmup with the Syracuse strength and conditioning staff before being placed separated into five groups inside the Ensley Athletic Center. The soldiers participated in the 40-yard dash, three-cone drill, short shuttle, broad and high jumps before heading to the weight room for the bench press.

Following the workouts, the troops and student-athletes shared breakfast and coach Shafer handed out awards to the top performers in each event.

“It was a fantastic day, we know that Syracuse is New York’s College Football Team and we like to think of the 10th Mountain as New York’s Army Division, so we’re glad to have this relationship here,” said Major Sean Morrow.

“Fitness is an important part of our combat readiness and the ability to come up here this morning and see how an elite athletic program trains its players and prepares to go on the field are the same types of skills that prepare our unit and division for combat. The things that we’ll take home today is that it was fun, inspiring and they’re also very functional and will help us in our mission.”

The combine event was the latest in a long line of events that the Syracuse football program and Fort Drum have combined to participate in, highlighted by the team spending a week during training camp on post each season.

“This is a neat experience and it’s very consistent with the University’s mission to become the nation’s exemplar in higher education for serving the nation’s veterans and their families,” said Vice Chancellor of Veterans and Military Affairs and Executive Director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families Michael Haynie. “The relationship with Fort Drum is longstanding and the football team has a very special relationship with the 10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum, and it’s something that we’re looking to build on in the future.”