William & Mary announces $10M gift from alumna
William & Mary announced Wednesday a $10 million gift from an anonymous alumna which the university will use to develop a Veteran-to-Executive Transition program. The program’s goal is to help veterans successfully transition into the civilian workforce.
The gift was received from an alumna who serves as a trustee of the William & Mary Foundation.
According to the release, the program will provide longer-term support and emphasize “cultivating initiative and creativity, fostering cultural adjustment and holistic wellness as well as developing key management skills.”
The W&M VET program will include courses and support services that are designed to help veterans with different levels of experiences and education, including undergraduates, graduates and continuing education students. One of those services it will support is the Office of Student Veteran Engagement. The W&M VET program will help immediately expand transition assistance for undergraduate students at the office, in coordination with the Cohen Career Center.
“W&M VET will provide extensive networking opportunities to engage with companies and with veterans who have made successful transitions. That networking will continue throughout each veteran’s career,” said Retired Army Brig. Gen. James R. Golden who serves as a volunteer senior consultant to President Rowe.
To lead the program, the university will create a special assistant for military and veterans affairs, who will report to Rowe initially. The special assistant will also be supported by an advisory group which will include executives and military veterans. The honorary chair of the advisory group will be Chancellor Robert M. Gates, who served as secretary of defense from 2006-2011.
“The establishment of the W&M VET program reaffirms the university’s longstanding military tradition and commitment to veterans,” said Golden in the release.
In a news release from the university, President Katherine Rowe said, “We extend our enthusiastic thanks to our alumna for her generosity and inspiration. She challenged William & Mary to think transformatively about how we approach veterans’ education as a nation and to innovate in the ways we support those who serve this country.”
W&M VET will also help support current programs such as the Office of Student Veteran Engagement, the Law School’s Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic, the Maj. Gen. James Wright MBA Program at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, the Army ROTC program and others.
The Raymond A. Mason School of Business will establish a Military and Veterans Affairs Center to coordinate all of the military and veterans programs, as well as “facilitate access to resources and co-curricular initiatives for student veterans.” A new director will be hired to lead the center.
“They are principled leaders with tremendous capacity,andIamexcitedaboutthe ways that this new program will enable them to flourish as students and as executives in the civilian world,” said Larry Pulley, dean of the Raymond A. Mason School of Business.