Summer 2022 Newsletter

Celebrating military-affiliated graduates from the classes of 2020 and 2022

Marine Corps veteran Katie Yetter ’22 speaks during the OMAS recognition ceremony.

During Commencement Weekend, the Office of Military-Affiliated Students (OMAS) held a special recognition ceremony for military-affiliated students on Saturday, May 28. Staff Sergeant Jesse Maurier ’23 of the Rhode Island Air National Guard served as the master of ceremonies, and new OMAS program director Christian “Mac” Manning welcomed everyone to the celebration. Brown President Christina H. Paxson shared opening remarks before U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, student speaker and Marine Corps veteran Katie Yetter ’22, and Brown University Veterans Alumni Council (BUVAC) honorary member Joan Wernig Sorensen ’72 LHD’19 hon., P’06 P’06 spoke to the gathering of friends and family, which included U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

Brown’s classes of 2020 and 2022 include four Marine Corps veterans, seven Army veterans, five Navy veterans, five Air Force veterans, and one Army ROTC graduate.

The class of 2020 celebrates from near and far

During a one-of-a-kind Commencement and Reunion Weekend, Brown celebrated graduates in both the class of 2022 and the class of 2020, who missed their in-person Commencement experience two years ago due to the pandemic.

Damian Ballard ’20 in his Brown Commencement regalia.

Although he was unable to join the festivities on campus, BUVAC member Damian Ballard ’20 donned his Commencement regalia to celebrate with his classmates from his deployment with the 10th Mountain Division in Kuwait and Iraq.

OMAS welcomes a new program director

OMAS is excited to welcome Marine Corps veteran Christian “Mac” Manning as the new program director. Mac brings a wealth of experience to his new role and has previously served as the program manager for George Washington University’s military and veteran services and the veterans liaison and transfer admissions counselor at Stevenson University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Mac is currently completing a graduate degree in Leadership Development.

Mac joins Brown at a time of rapid growth in the population of military-affiliated students. The University recently launched a veteran admissions application and has 13 incoming student veterans, which will be the largest class to date and puts the total number of student veterans at around 35. Brown is on track to hit President Paxson’s commitment of doubling the OMAS population (40-50 students) by 2023 — one year earlier than the original goal. Brown is also expecting its largest incoming ROTC population of about 35 students, including 22 Army cadets, eight to ten Air Force cadets, and four Navy/Marine cadets.

To learn more about Brown’s commitment to embracing military-affiliated students and increasing their representation in the student body, read President Paxson’s Our Courageous Military from the June-August 2022 edition of the Brown Alumni Magazine.

The OMAS Year in Review

• OMAS had a successful year supporting the service-connected population at Brown, both on and off campus. The group held several events focused on creating identity and connecting various populations to the OMAS community, including a new collaboration with Brown’s LGBTQ Center that led to a “Do Ask Do Tell” event to mark the 10-year anniversary of the repealing of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy.

• Focusing on the health and wellbeing of Brown’s military-affiliated students, OMAS staff held presentations during the year to advise students on applying for Veterans Association (VA) disability benefits and also hosted the VA in the OMAS lounge for a discussion on mental health resources.

• OMAS launched the new Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE) mentoring program to connect new ROTC cadets with veterans. During an orientation for incoming students, current students and representatives from Brown’s Office of Financial Aid and Office of the Registrar were on hand to welcome the new members of the Brown community and connect them with resources.

• Army veteran Brehan Brady ’23 received the Royce Fellowship for his project “Found in Translation: Veteran Voices in Writing from Kleist to Kandahar.” Brehan has used his writing and research to talk about the impact of his service and held a creative writing seminar aimed at OMAS students who may be interested in literature studies.

Update, share, and learn more

Staying in touch with the alumni veteran community

•  Is your alumni record up to date? To ensure you are kept updated about any upcoming veteran-related programs or information at Brown, email alumniveterans@brown.edu with your branch, dates of service, and anything else you’d like to share. Thank you for your service!

•  Help expand the BUVAC mailing list. Do you know anyone interested in Brown military-affiliated news and events? Please share this newsletter and encourage your classmates, peers, and networks to join the BUVAC mailing list by emailing alumniveterans@brown.edu.

•  Interested in finding out more about how Brown supports veteran and ROTC students? OMAS offers programs and services to help Brown students make successful transitions by connecting them with campus and community resources, facilitating learning opportunities, providing space for shared conversation, and more. The OMAS website includes details on Air Force, Army and Naval ROTC, as well as the Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE) peer support program.

•  Keep up with Brown alumni veteran affairs. Visit Brown’s Alumni & Friends website for more information on BUVAC and its alumni-student mentoring program, updates on the University’s initiative to bring more veterans to College Hill, and links to past newsletters.

•  Support the Veterans Financial Aid Initiative. Learn more about Brown’s initiative to expand financial aid for veterans and consider making a gift in support of this critical priority.