Dartmouth aims to double the number of undergraduate veterans, increase ROTC presence, and build a university-wide network of military-connected students, staff, and faculty over the next few years, President Sian Leah Beilock announced during the annual Veterans Day Recognition Breakfast on Nov. 11.
“At Dartmouth, we want to be leaders in recruiting and creating those committed to service through the military, government, and other careers,” President Beilock said to the 75 veterans, family members, and supporters in the Class of ’53 Commons. “We want to ensure that their experience and voices are heard in our classrooms because it makes us all better.”
The breakfast opened with the Star Spangled Banner, recorded by The Subtleties a cappella group, and applause for the veterans and their families, who were asked to stand so they could be recognized.
Dartmouth currently counts 13 veterans among its undergraduates, and more than 60 graduate and professional school students are veterans.
The ROTC at Dartmouth program has 32 cadets this year, up substantially from an average of 15 to 20 cadets over the past decade.
As part of its academic mission, Dartmouth focuses on bringing in exceptional young people with varied life experiences, perspectives, and beliefs, Beilock said during her talk. “That’s why, as an administration, we are enhancing our focus on veterans, ROTC, and military-connected students.”
Dartmouth is making “meaningful progress” already, she said. Expanding internships that open doors for veterans, enhancing the leadership experience for ROTC cadets, and creating a summer program offering veterans a chance to take courses and explore where they want to continue their education are “just the beginning.”
Beilock also highlighted the growth in ROTC and noted steps taken last year to raise the visibility of student veterans at Dartmouth. Other plans include making the on-campus experience for veterans even better, she said, by providing increased resources, support, and connections.
The goal is to “really cement Dartmouth’s role as a place where veterans lead and learn and thrive,” she said. “We’re off to a great start, but we have more work to do, and all of you in this room are part of that work. I’m so honored to be here today to welcome you to this breakfast.”
Guest speaker Henry Do Rosario, an Army veteran and assistant director at the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, also issued a call to action.
Do Rosario recounted his first day as a missile defense officer in South Korea, when he realized the people he was serving with were not just coworkers, they were his community. He described leaving the service years later, and how, like many, he had struggled to find a new community with relationships as deep and authentic as those forged in the military.
And he called upon his fellow veterans to use their experience being part of “tight-knit, diverse, strong networks” to build community wherever they are.
Both at a national level and in neighborhoods, “we need people with steady hands and clear eyes to bridge the many divides that our country is facing,” said Do Rosario. “That is a challenge that I forward to you this Veterans Day, that you work on being the community builder that you are already and are very much capable of being.”
Also during the event, members of Dartmouth Uniformed Service Alumni posthumously honored two veteran alumni, presenting the awards to the men’s families.
Air Force veteran Thomas E. Byrne ’55, Tuck ’56, and Marine Corps veteran Peter “Mike” Gish ’49 both received a distinguished service award named for the late Dartmouth President Emeritus James Wright. A Marine before he entered academia, Wright helped hundreds of veterans around the country who served in Iraq and Afghanistan attend college.
