As a college or university employee, our priority is and should be our current students. They are right here in front of us, asking questions and grinding their way through their academic programs. Within the realm of others we should focus on can be our prospective students, our alumni, and of course our colleagues who work alongside us. What about our alumni, or former students, who left the university to join the military during times of war and never made it home? How will we remember them and make sure that their legacy lives on? This is how we chose to do that here at Villanova.

When I first arrived on campus, to a newly created position, the first priority was certainly figuring out how to get more veterans to consider Villanova as a viable option in their academic plans moving forward. Our goals towards that end will never stop and certainly continues. However, one thing quickly came about in conversations with other staff members and alumni, that there were a number of Villanovans who made the ultimate sacrifice and that it would be nice to honor them in some way.

How do we do that appropriately? Do we put their name on a bronze plaque or in a hallway? Do we tell their stories in the corners of campus? Or can we create meaningful mechanisms to tell their stories in a variety of ways? For me, I wanted to start by doing the research, finding out how many Villanovans died in the service to their country, and learn more about their stories. Secondly, I wanted to use technology in a way that we could do more than just transcribe their name on a wall (we will do that at some point too), so that alumni and family members spread all over the planet could have access to these stories.

After that first question of how do we do it, the next question is why do we do it? Does it even matter? I will answer that with a resounding ‘yes it matters,’ because forgetting our history, takes away from the values and meaning that we hold near and dear as an institution. Villanova prides itself on our community, our people, not only our current people but those who have ties to us who are no longer walking around campus. Our alumni tell the stories of Villanova of old and keep us grounded to our roots. Forgetting those who went off and died in service, is counterintuitive to who we are, and what we stand for as a school.

After we answered those two questions, we then got to the hard part of actually putting our words in to action. I approached the library staff here on campus and asked a couple of questions. My first one was about telling the stories of Villanova Veterans who are still here with us, to archive their story, and have it last forever, so that their families can hear their words long after they have passed. We created the Voices of Villanova’s Veterans, and that has been a great success so far, as an oral history project. The real question though was our thoughts on honoring the legacy of those who died in various places around the world serving this great nation.

The way we chose to do this was through an interactive memorial map, with pin drops all over the globe that can be clicked on. These little pins tell big stories of long ago. Stories like the Battle of the Bulge, D-Day, Iwo Jima and Vietnam. It is more than just a name on a granite block, it is a reminder to all that these people were more than just names. They played football, sang in the choir, wrote for the student newspaper, and studied finance here at Villanova. Telling their story makes these names human, and accessible to all. It shares the stories of so many Americans throughout our history, but in this way through our Villanova lens, brings out their pictures from old yearbooks, and stories from their time on campus. Sometimes forgetting is easy, but telling the stories is worth the time and effort. It takes time and collaboration across campus, but I would venture to say that it is time well spent. Our interactive map, titled “Honoring the Fallen: An Interactive Memorial Map” can be found here, and I hope that more schools choose to honor those who left campus and never came home.

Article Topics

Military Friendly Institutions Research on Student Veterans Serving Military in HigherEd Women Veterans Working as a Veteran in HigherEd Workplace Inclusion

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