Florida State University is committed to creating the most veteran friendly and empowering public university in the country through an institution-wide initiative to help veterans successfully transition from the military to college life, retain them through graduation, and help them find jobs when they get their degree.

I want to tell you about a number of initiatives already in place including the appointment of Col. (Ret.) Billy Francis, a 1986 FSU graduate, as the director of the new Student Veterans Center, temporarily housed in the Pearl Tyner Building on W. Tennessee Street; the successful launch of the Fall Veterans Film Festival; the Spring Student Veteran Expo; and the continuing success of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), part of the EBV Consortium of Schools and a partner with the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The Veterans Center will be a "One-Stop Shop" for everything veteran and the EBV is a cutting-edge program helping veterans who have experienced physical or mental disabilities during post 9/11 combat operations to reassert their independence — and more easily provide for their families — by acquiring new skills in entrepreneurship and business management. Beginning with the Summer 2012 commencement ceremony, we also became one of the first universities in the nation to salute our graduating student-veterans by bestowing them with red, white and blue honor cords to wear at graduation ceremonies.

On the horizon is a proposed "Veterans Legacy Complex" that will link the "Past, Present and Future" to include:

• The World War II Institute – the "Past"
• Student Veterans Center (FSU/SVC) – the “Present”
• Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) – the "Future"

This is just one example of how the university community is meeting its goal of being the most student-centered university it can possibly be. When you meet student veterans on campus, I hope you will take a moment to thank them for their service and do all you can to welcome them into the Seminole family.

Eric