A UCF conference to help student veterans find successful employment will be held Friday, Oct. 4, at the campus Veterans Academic Resource Center.
The second annual conference, “Student Veteran Survival Kit: Tools to Engage, Empower, Employ,” is designed to help them achieve success and personalize their campus experience.
The opening speaker will be Dr. Bryan Batien, coordinator of VITAL (Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership) for the Orlando VA Medical Center. As part of the medical center’s psychology staff, Batien is an expert in readjustment and mental-health issues for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and specializes in the treatment of PTSD. He served eight years in the Army and Army National Guard, which included a 14-month deployment to Iraq in 2003-2004.
The keynote speaker will be D. Wayne Robinson, an advisory board member of the Student Veterans of America. Robinson served in the Army for 26 years and rose to the top of enlisted ranks as a command sergeant major. He served in more than a dozen countries around the world and has an MBA from the Booth School of Business at The University of Chicago.
Other speakers are scheduled for sessions during the day, including topics such as managing stress, applying military traditions in academia, and finding purpose through community service.
The $75 preregistration fee covers all the sessions, materials and lunch. The conference begins at 9 a.m. and concludes with a tour of the Veterans Academic Resource Center at 4:15 p.m. The center is Suite 101 at the CFE Arena and provides offices, study spaces and lounge space.
For other details about the schedule, speakers and registration, go to: http://varc.sdes.ucf.edu/conference/.
The Veterans Academic Resource Center strives to help UCF student veterans with access to campus resources, help faculty members and staff understand the needs of student veterans, and provide the tools student veterans need to stay on track and finish their degree.