The Johns Hopkins community marked Veterans Day on Monday with an event honoring those who have served in the military and armed forces.
The event, held in the Glass Pavilion on the Homewood campus, was organized by the Johns Hopkins Medicine Veterans Employee Resource Group and Bob McLean, JHU's vice president of facilities and a veteran himself who joined Hopkins after 30 years in the U.S. Navy. McLean presided over the celebration, welcoming guests, sharing remarks, and introducing speakers.
Students with military ties helped kick off the program. The JHU ROTC color guard presented the flags and Peabody masters student Hannah Davis, also a soprano soloist for the United States Marine Band, sang the National Anthem.
The keynote address was delivered by Admiral Gary Roughead, a Johns Hopkins University trustee and a member of the board of Managers of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Roughead was Chief of Naval Operations from 2007 to 2011, serving as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and advising the President and Secretary of Defense on naval matters and national military strategy. He has nearly four decades of military experience.
Image caption: Admiral Gary Roughead
Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University
Reflecting on veterans' continued responsibility to their country and community, Roughead said, "We have an obligation to take part in constructively shaping public policy and engaging in public service. ... We have an obligation to strengthening, reforming, and optimizing our institutions for our time based on our experiences ... and to encourage others early in their lives to take time to put on the cloth of the nation and serve in defense of our fellow citizens."
JHU President Ron Daniels also spoke at the event and used the occasion to announce the launch of the university's veteran employee resource group. Employee resource groups, or ERGs, foster connections among, and provide support to, staff members from common backgrounds. The new veterans ERG will work in concert with the already-existing group at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
"Since our university's founding nearly 150 years ago, Hopkins has proudly counted veterans among our faculty, staff, and students," Daniels said. "Their experience, their expertise, their sense of camaraderie, and their commitment to civic duty added texture and depth to the ways in which we have been counted on to advance the sustained democratic values—a mission as important today as ever.
"Today, we stand committed to being a place of unparalleled opportunity for all active and former service members and their families."
