DUNMORE, Pa. — Penn State Scranton significantly ramped-up its outreach to the local military community when it hosted its first Veterans Employment and Education Conference on Thursday, Nov. 7.
The all-day event featured “Green Zone” training for local employers led by Eugene McFeely, Penn State’s current and first senior director of veterans affairs and services, as well as career counseling workshops for area veterans and active-duty military personnel.
Funding for the conference came through a $10,000 grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation, which allocated the funding specifically to assist area veterans and groups and individuals serving vets.
The day started in the Sherbine Lounge with brief remarks by Assistant Teaching Professor in English Paul Perrone, an Army veteran, and Director of Development Christine Ostroski, who secured the Spitz Foundation grant.
After being introduced by Ostroski, McFeely delivered an informative and compelling keynote address centering on the many attributes that veterans bring to the civilian workplace.
The retired Air Force colonel, who has overseen the University’s veterans programming and services since 2017, began his remarks by expounding on the greatness of the GI Bill, and how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the foresight to take advantage of the “skill and drive” possessed by soldiers returning from the battlefields of World War II.