Honoring Our Veterans, Our Heroes

Dear Drexel Students and Colleagues,

It has been a cherished tradition at Drexel University to pay tribute to our U.S. military veterans throughout the month of November. 

This year’s Veterans Day programming at Drexel furnishes many opportunities to honor our veterans and their families for their courage, sacrifice and service to our great nation. Those opportunities include:

• Gathering behind the Drexel banner to march in the annual citywide Philadelphia Veterans Parade on Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sunday, Nov. 10;
• Attending a campus panel discussion on Monday, Nov. 11, “When One Serves, The Whole Family Serves.” The panel will feature Drexel Alumna Linda Matz (’66) and her husband, (Retired) Major General William Matz Jr., a highly decorated Army veteran who served as the eighth secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission;
• Visiting the American flag installation on the lawn beside Perelman Plaza and Gerri C. LeBow Hall. This display honors currently enrolled veterans whose experiences and perspectives enrich teaching and scholarship at Drexel; and
• Contributing to an active-duty military care package drive, which will run through Thursday, Dec. 5. You can bring items, such as toothpaste, shampoo, protein bars, lip balm and sunscreen, to the spaces and lobbies of Drexel Central, Public Safety, the Academic Resource Center, the Lindy Center, the Rec Center (Drexel URec) and the Health Sciences Building.

Additional events and information related to Veterans Day are listed on the Center for Military and Veteran Services website.

We proudly support our veterans and their dependents in many ways throughout the year, including through our participation in the federal Yellow Ribbon Program; through the work of our Center for Military and Veterans Services and the Military Transition Program at Goodwin College (which this year celebrates its 10-year anniversary); and through our participation in Task Force Dragon, Philadelphia’s Army ROTC consortium of six area institutions of higher education that is headquartered at Drexel.

There is always more we can do to serve those who have served our country in uniform. Those who are interested are encouraged to join the Veterans Colleague Resource Group within the Office of Institutional Equity and Inclusive Culture.

On this Veterans Day, let us all make sure we express our enduring gratitude to our military veterans and their families at Drexel and beyond for their service, valor and unsurpassed devotion to our country.

Sincerely,

Denis P. O’Brien
Interim President