Veterans Resource Center dedicated at YSU
YSU dedicates Veterans Resource Center
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A five-year endeavor became a reality Friday when Youngstown State University dedicated its Veterans Resource Center, the first such facility at an Ohio university.
The 6,000-square-foot center next to the Pollock House on Wick Avenue is dedicated for the use of YSU military and veteran students.
Members of the 122nd Army Band of the Ohio Army National Guard provided music for Friday’s ceremony, which also included the Color Guard from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.
Carl Nunziato, one of the three co-chairmen who spearheaded the campaign to build the center, said the effort began five years and several YSU presidents ago.
“It was a mission, not a project,” he said.
The center is being funded through private donations, and the campaign is ongoing.
“We’re not done yet, but I’m not worried,” Nunziato said. “We’ve raised $1 million so far, and we have a couple hundred thousand to go.”
The committee hopes to raise enough to fund scholarships for veterans, too.
The campaign has raised $1.02 million toward its $1.3 million goal. The largest contribution is $200,000 from the James and Coralie Centofanti Charitable Foundation with three other donors have given at least $100,000.
Bernie Kosar Sr., one of the other campaign co-chairmen, said none of the donors was asked for money.
“People came forward and said, ‘I want to be a part of this,’” he said. “I’ve been involved in a lot of things and I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
Harry Meshel, the third campaign co-chairman and a YSU trustee, said university trustees made the veterans center possible, allowing the center to be built on the land where the Peck House once stood.
He said service is important and service to veterans is
something that should be nurtured. Many risk their lives in service to their country.
“When you go through an experience like, that you don’t easily forget it,” Meshel said.
YSU President Jim Tressel said the dedication of the center caps off 10 extraordinary days for the university. First, the Youngstown Business Incubator was named the best university-associated incubator in the world. YBI is associated and works in partnership with Youngstown State, Kent State and Case Western Reserve universities and the University of Akron.
Last week, the university announced that physics professor Tom Oder secured YSU’s first federal patent.
“This particular day is really extraordinary,” Tressel said.
YSU has always had a close affiliation with the military, being named a military-friendly campus, he said. The Pollock House next door, where Tressel and his wife, Ellen, live, housed the campus’s ROTC headquarters from 1950 to 1982.
The office of Rick Williams, coordinator of YSU’s Office of Veterans Affairs, will be in the new building as well as a computer lab, lounge, community room/study lounge, offices, recreational lounge with a flat-screen television, gaming systems and kitchenette.
Plans call for the center eventually to offer monthly programming and services to student veterans and active military students.
“We want this to feel like home for all of you,” Tressel said.