Career Services launched a new webpage devoted to veteran students last week, a day after The Daily Pennsylvanian reported on veteran students’ petition for more resources.
“They launched a website in such a rapid manner,” said Wharton senior Timothy Kolb, the president of the University of Pennsylvania Student Veteran Association. “I commend them for that.
“But at the same time, I see it’s a small step and a lot more work to be done,” Kolb added.
The webpage includes over 30 links to sites such as job databases and network pages for veterans. Information about career fairs specifically for veterans will also be posted on the website.
The petition, which had 414 signatures as of Tuesday, called on the University to establish a resource center for veteran students at Penn. The DP article noted that while Career Services had resource pages for other minority communities, there were no resources devoted to veterans.
“When I saw in the article we didn’t have a customized site for veterans, it seemed like a good idea, because we have a lot of resources already on the website and it is easy to just pull them all together,” Career Services Director Pat Rose said.
Career Services will not set up a specialized staff for veteran students, but they will be served by the advisors for their respective schools.
“The staff can focus on the needs of their school or their group,” Rose said. “So there would be no way to have just one person. It wouldn’t be best.”
Kolb, representing the UPSVA, met with the Undergraduate Assembly during its open forum last Sunday.
“I received enthusiastic response from those students. Many of them wanted to know how they can help,” Kolb said. “Moving forward, there’s opportunity to work with them with the goal of pursuing a referendum from the UA’s side.”
Kolb will also meet with staff from the Vice Provost for University Life next week to speak about the petition.
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