Campus to host Veterans Remembrance Ceremony Friday

SUNY Fredonia and members of the surrounding community will gather in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room at the sixth annual Veterans Remembrance Ceremony on Friday, Nov. 8, at 3:30 p.m.

“SUNY Fredonia truly holds a special regard for all veterans past and present,” said SUNY Fredonia Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Terry Brown, who will lead the ceremony which honors veterans, active duty military members and those that preceded them.

Recipients of the 2013-2014 Smith-Viggiani Veterans Scholarships, established by Dave Smith, executive chairman of the board of National Fuel Gas Company, a NYSE-listed, integrated energy company based in Western New York and a member of the Class of 1974, and his wife, Lucy, a retired school teacher, will also be announced. Dave and Lucy met and were married while both were students at SUNY Fredonia.

Selected to receive this year’s Smith-Viggiani Scholarships, each valued at $5,000, are:

Daniel Rowe, a Psychology and Criminal Justice major from Geneva, N.Y., who served in the U.S. Army; and Brittany Toapha, an Early Childhood/Childhood Education major from Monroe, N.Y., whose mother served honorably in the military.

Winner of this year’s SUNY Fredonia Veterans’ Scholarship Award, Erin Dorozynski, from Pine Plains, will also be announced. She is a senior majoring in Business Administration, with a concentration in Management and a double minor in Economics and Leadership Studies. The scholarship is valued at $500.

A very active member of the campus community, Dorozynski is president of the Student Association, co-chair of the Senior Challenge Committee, vice president of the FSA Board of Directors and is a member of the College Council and Fredonia College Council Foundation Board of Directors.

As a junior, Dorozynski was inducted into the Alma Mater Society, the highest non-academic honors society on campus. She also received the Robert E. Coon Scholarship, which is awarded to a junior who demonstrates excellence in the classroom and makes significant contributions to the quality of student life on campus.

Dorozynski, who will speak at the ceremony, is the daughter of Thomas and Patricia Dorozynski, both U.S. Army veterans. Thomas, drafted during the Vietnam War in 1969, was injured and received the Purple Heart. After graduating from high school, Patricia enlisted and was stationed in Germany, where she served as a laboratory technician. Both are retired from the United States Postal Service.

Provost Brown will also acknowledge the new Veterans’ Lounge, a dedicated space for student veterans, military service members and students of veterans to study, socialize and relax. The comfortably furnished lounge in Nixon Hall is equipped with a computer and printer, offers wireless internet access and has a meeting area. It is set to open by the end of the fall semester.

The role that veterans from all military branches play at SUNY Fredonia will also be recognized by Provost Brown. Currently attending classes are 32 student veterans who have given 100 years of cumulative service to the nation. The campus, through the state, employs 51 veterans who have provided 732 years of service to the university. Another five veterans employed by the Faculty Student Association have given 100 years of cumulative service to the nation.

Provost Brown will also announce that a permanent SUNY Fredonia Veterans Display case, containing artifacts, awards and other military-related items, has been placed in the second floor of the Williams Center. She will also report SUNY Fredonia’s placement on Victory Media’s 2014 Military Friendly Schools list in recognition of programs and services offered on campus to assist veterans.

A POW/MIA ceremonial table and flag setup in recognition of U.S. service men and women prisoners of war and missing in action will be on display.

The Tau Sigma National Honor Society, along with the Veteran's Recognition Committee and Blue Star Mothers of America, is in the process of conducting a Holiday Care Package Fund Drive and donations will be accepted at the remembrance event. Donations will also be accepted until Nov. 8 at Reed Library. Suggested items for donation include: personal items including baby wipes, lip balm, eye drops, baby powder, foot powder, sunscreen and hand cream; food items including pull-top canned goods, Pop Tarts, pepperoni/beef sticks, sunflower seeds, nuts, canned chips and snacks (no bags), drink mixes to go packs, and tuna/chicken foil packs; and games, puzzle books, pens, writing paper, flip flops, sunglasses, magazines and candy.

The ceremony will conclude with presentation of the colors by the Dunkirk High School JROTC Color Guard and the singing of the National Anthem by School of Music students Gabrielle Mason, Elizabeth Cowan, Stephen Smith, Michael Crabb and Nicholas Reed.