The University of Toledo will honor the courage, commitment and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans and their families next week by hosting the annual Toledo community Veterans Day celebration on Monday and continuing with events every day as part of the national Joining Forces initiative.

The eighth annual Veterans Appreciation Breakfast and Resource Fair will be held at 8-11:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 12 at The University of Toledo’s Savage Arena and Veterans’ Plaza to offer an opportunity for camaraderie, education and remembrance.

Doors open for the event at 8 a.m. with breakfast at 8:45 a.m. in Savage Arena. Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak, Toledo Mayor Mike Bell and State Rep. Teresa Fedor are scheduled to deliver brief remarks. Air Force Col. Steven S. Nordhaus, commander of the 180th Fighter Wing, Ohio Air National Guard, located at Toledo Express Airport, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address.

The celebration will continue with a ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Veterans’ Plaza located near Memorial Field House on Main Campus. Transportation will be provided from Savage Arena to the Veterans’ Plaza starting at 10:30 a.m. UT student and Army combat veteran Robert Roether will offer opening remarks and UT Army ROTC Battalion Commander Joshua Fletcher will speak. Marine Corps Master Sgt. Steven Kosinski is scheduled to lead the remembrance ceremony to include bagpipers, a joint services honor guard, Marine League rifle volley and taps.

“The University of Toledo has created a site where remembering can take place and where the deeds of our service men and women can be celebrated and remembered,” said Army veteran Vern Snyder, UT vice president for institutional advancement. “Most importantly, this location can serve as a reminder to generations of students of the price some have paid for the freedoms they enjoy.”

The University is continuing its recognition of the men and women who proudly wore the cloth of our nation and answered the call to service with a weeklong series of events tied to the national Joining Forces imitative championed by first lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden. UT’s events aim to bring awareness to the sacrifices and challenges faced by veterans and how UT is working to help in their transition.

“The University of Toledo is committed to honoring the sacrifices of our veterans and their families,” said Haraz N. Ghanbari, a Navy veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and the University’s military and media liaison. “I encourage our students, staff and faculty as well as members of the community to engage with our veteran population and attend the events we’ve planned.”

Listed by date, the free, public events are:

• Tuesday,Nov. 13 — Dr. Marijo Tamburrino, professor of psychiatry and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, will discuss some of the preliminary findings she and her colleagues have discovered in a long-term survey of risk and resiliency and post-traumatic stress disorder among Ohio Army National Guard service members who have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the forum at 10:30 a.m. in Collier Building Room 1210 on Health Science Campus.
• Wednesday, Nov. 14 — Leaders from The University of Toledo and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will give a tour of the UT Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center at 11 a.m. on the lower level of the Collier Building. The UT and Wright-Patterson partnership will highlight the use of science and research to study the biomarkers for health concerns such as fatigue and stress, improving human performance, strengthening casualty care and more.
• Thursday, Nov. 15 — “Joining Forces in Teaching for Better Care of Veterans,” a panel discussion along with a question-and-answer session featuring Tamburrino, Dr. Thomas Sodeman, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, and second-year medical student and U.S. Army veteran Robert Roether, is scheduled from noon to 12:30 p.m. in Collier Building Room 1230. The panel discussion will focus on how UT’s College of Medicine and Life Sciences is exploring a change in curriculum to enhance the education of students in relation to veterans. Learn how training future physicians to ask a few simple questions could help better meet the physical and emotional needs of veterans and their families.
• Friday, Nov. 16 — The University of Toledo’s Military Service Center, the main point of contact for students, staff and faculty veterans or those who are still serving, will hold an open house from 1-2:30 p.m. in Rocket Hall Room1529. Stop by to meet the staff, including VA certifying official Cheryl Karnikowski; representatives from the Toledo VET Center, one of eight centers in Ohio that provides a broad range of counseling, outreach and referral services to eligible veterans in order to help them make a satisfying post-war readjustment to civilian life; and Brittany Powers, a social worker from the Department of Veterans Affairs, who regularly meets with student veterans to talk about resources, including VA health care and the new Toledo CommunityBased Outpatient Clinic located on the Health Science Campus.

For more information on the national Joining Forces initiative visit www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Nov. 9, 2012)
The Blade (Nov. 12, 2012)
The Independent Collegian (Nov. 12, 2012)
The Blade (Nov. 13, 2012)
13 ABC, WTOL 11 and WNWO (Nov. 19, 2012)