EUGENE, Ore. -- (Nov. 2, 2011) – The University of Oregon will celebrate Veterans Day with a week of awareness activities beginning on Friday, Nov. 4 and concluding on Friday, Nov. 11.
UO was recently named a top military friendly schoolby G.I. Jobs magazine and is one of 12 universities serving as Tillman Military Scholar University Partnersbecause of their support services to military veterans and family members.
To begin Veterans Awareness Week, the UO will host a film premiere of “In The Telling,” which follows eight individuals during the making of the Eugene-based The Telling Project.
The free, public film premiere is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, in 180 Prince Lucien Campbell Hall on campus. It will also be shown at the Bijou Art Cinemas, 492 E. 13th Ave., at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, and 2 p.m. on Nov. 6. Free tickets are required for the Bijou screenings and are available at the Bijou box office.
The play was created in 2007 by UO alumnus Jonathan Wei to help provide veterans and their families with opportunities to tell others about their experiences transitioning back to civilian life after deployment. It is based upon interviews with veterans. The Telling Project expanded across the U.S. and was invited to perform in Washington, D.C., for First Lady Michelle Obama on Veterans Day in 2009.
“Veterans Day is an important opportunity to honor and remember the sacrifices that have been made by many service men and women who are part of our community,” said Gretchen Jewett, director of nontraditional and veterans education support. “The schedule of activities allows for several opportunities to commemorate the day.”
Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, will begin with a 5K “Run for the Fallen,” at 9 a.m. at the EMU amphitheater. Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. The course begins and ends at the EMU and travels along portions of the Ruth Bascom River Trail. There also is a shorter course for participants who choose to walk. This is the first year that a run has been part of the UO’s Veterans Day events.
In addition, the UO will participate in Remembrance Day National Roll Calland will observe a simultaneous nationwide minute of silence at 11 a.m. Campus and community volunteers at the UO will join approximately 150 colleges and universities across the nation to read the names of the more than 6,200 fallen service men and women of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF), now called Operation New Dawn. The reading of names is from 9 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. at the EMU amphitheater.
Five University of Oregon students were awarded a total of $29,000 in scholarships from the Tillman Military Scholars for the current academic year, and will be honored at the University Veterans Day Recognition at 11 a.m. at the Ford Alumni Center. Tillman scholars Jeff Meray, Ryan Williams, Bryan Boender, Samuel Bennett and Kelly Christensen will be introduced by Robin Holmes, vice president for student affairs.
The keynote speaker at the event will be Bob Welch, book author and columnist for the Register-Guard newspaper. Welch will participate in a book signing of his worksat a reception at 10 a.m. at the Ford Alumni Center.
The fourth annual Veterans Awareness Week events are organized by the UO administration in conjunction with the UO Nontraditional Student Programs, Veterans and Family Student Association, Oregon Humanities Center and the UO Duck Store.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu
SOURCE:Gretchen Jewett, director of nontraditional and veterans education support, 541-346-1123, Jewett@uoregon.edu
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