The Veterans Resource Station at Northern Kentucky University is excited to announce that KDVA Commissioner Heather French Henry will visit campus on April 20.
On July 1, 2014, Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000, to serve as commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs. As the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, Henry has been an outspoken advocate for our military veterans nationwide and an integral part of the national movement to change the face of veterans’ health care and outreach.
During her year of service as Miss America, Heather developed a full-scale platform that encompassed not only homelessness among veterans, but also health care, housing, disability, and benefits. Henry has worked alongside many of the nation’s experts on veterans’ issues from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Service Organizations, and members of Congress and Senate. In 2001, the U.S. Congress passed the Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act, bipartisan legislation focusing on the eradication of homelessness among veterans nationwide, especially homeless female veterans.
For 2015, KDVA has spotlighted the 33,000 Kentucky women who are veterans. Beshear has proclaimed 2015 as the Year of the Woman Veteran in Kentucky. On April 11, Henry and KDVA hosted the first ever Women’s Veteran Conference in Louisville that was attended by 200 women veterans from World War II through the present.
Before visiting campus, Henry will make a stop in Covington at the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. The shelter opened its doors for the first time in the winter of 2008 and is the region’s only cold-weather shelter for adults. ESNKY’s operations manager, Joshua Klosterman, was named NKU’s Outstanding 2012 undergraduate social work student and later graduated in 2014 with an NKU Master of Social Work. Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Social Work internships are offered to university students at ESNKY, sponsored through an agreement with the NKU Department of Social Work, Education and Leadership.
From 10:30 a.m. through 11 a.m., Henry will visit the Veterans Resource Station in University Center 131. The university opened the Veterans Resource Station in Fall 2013 as a place where our more than 500 veterans and family members can find welcoming and dedicated space to study, socialize, and connect.
Students, faculty, staff, and the public are encouraged to stop by to meet Commissioner Henry from 11:30 p.m. through 12:30 p.m. at the Veterans Resource Station table in the James C. and Rachel M. Votruba Student Union lobby. To bring awareness to the challenge of suicide and gun safety, a KDVA representative will have on hand free gun locks.
Henry completes her visit to the university with her address to the Spring NKU Veterans Advocacy Committee meeting at 1 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. She will address the active role KDVA is now engaged in to serve the veterans of the Commonwealth. Parking is available in Kenton Garage and the event is free and open to the public.