By Erica Noonan
noteworthy
Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saluted Suffolk University and its student veteran graduates in a pre-Commencement ceremony at Sargent Hall in May.
Dunford, a Boston native who served as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer from 2015 to 2019, personally thanked the University—which has been named a military-friendly school for more than a decade—for steadfastly supporting students who have completed their education while serving their country. The event honored 36 student veterans from Suffolk’s Classes of 2022, 2021, and 2020. The 2022 graduates represented five branches of the military and had a combined 196 years of active-duty service, including service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Dunford urged the students to assume leadership roles in their communities as civilians. “Democracy is not a spectator sport,” he said. “If we want our communities in this experiment we call democracy to succeed, we actually need to step up and do something about it.”
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Photographs by Michael J. Clarke
| Fall 2022
“Since I’ve taken off my uniform, I’ve seen how the service and impact of veterans can go far beyond their time standing watch on active duty,” Gen. Joseph Dunford (left) told an audience of student and alumni veterans (including Coast Guard vet Aaron Yaniro, BSBA ’19, center) at the May ceremony. Dunford was invited by his good friend, high school classmate, and fellow veteran, Robert C. Lamb, Jr., chair of the Suffolk University Board of Trustees (right).
