UNCG has a growing number of students who are veterans. In fact, UNCG has the fifth-largest military veteran population in the UNC system, Chancellor Linda P. Brady said at last week’s Trustees’ meeting. Those students have a high level of success, with a very high 87 percent retention rate, she said.

At last week’s meeting, recent graduate Nicolle Brossard spoke about UNCG’s support of its student veterans. She served as an officer of the UNCG Student Veterans Association and was part of the university’s Military, Veterans and Families Task Force. A survivor of the Ft. Hood shootings of 2009 – “I was eight feet from the Fort Hood Shooter” she said – she is an Army mental health specialist. She now will attend the U.S. Military-Baylor Graduate Program in Nutrition.

Joshua Green, assistant dean of students, and Dedrick Curtis, former assistant registrar for veterans services, spoke as well.

Curtis presented the chancellor and the trustees the first of the special coins that Brossard and a designer created for the university to present to student veterans each November 11.

In doing so, they praised the supportive environment that Brady and the board ensure for Spartan veterans.

Brady explained that our university’s military veterans exemplify one of many ways UNCG has a very diverse student body – and works to promote student access and success.

By Mike Harris