Arizona State Teachers College, Navy V-12 Program Drill Exercises, 1944. Photo courtesy Northern Arizona University, Cline Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives.
The Cline Library Special Collections and Archives partnered with NAU Student Veterans Services to develop an oral history project. The purpose of this oral history project is to record and preserve the unique perspectives of our diverse student veterans as they reflect upon their military service and subsequent transition to civilian life/academia. This project is one of the few in America attempting to capture the voices and stories of the student veterans.
NAU Student Veteran Services. Image courtesy of NAU Student Veteran Services.
Our student veterans experiences are unique and inspiring, and we want to preserve and make available their experiences for the historical record and for future student veterans. The project began in the spring semester of 2018, and to-date, we have captured eight oral histories of NAU veterans from World War II and the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Zachary Hamilton, Veteran, NAU Alumni, and Coordinator at NAU Student Veteran Services. Image courtesy of NAU Student Veteran Services.
We would like to highlight the first student veteran oral history we conducted as part of this project. Zachery Hamilton served two tours in Afghanistan in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. Following his service, Zachary enrolled at NAU in 2013. While at NAU, Zach became involved with Student Veteran Services. His involvement eventually led to a full-time position in that department, where he works today. To see and listen to Zach’s interview, please visit the digital archives at the Cline Library here and here.
If there are any NAU student or alumni veterans that would like to participate in this project, we would like to hear from you. Please send us an email at Vets.OralHistory@nau.edu.
The NAU Student Veteran Oral History project is a collaborative effort between the Cline Library Special Collections and Archives, NAU Student Veteran Services, and most importantly, the student veterans. I would like to take a moment to thank all the participants in this project:
NAU Student Veterans
Zachary Hamilton
Howard Wren (WW II, Navy V-12 veteran, interview coming soon!)
Amanda McNair (Interview coming soon!)
Joey Yazzie (Interview coming soon!)
NAU Veteran Services Staff (Pete Yanka, Laurie Jordan, Scott Heflin, and Zach Hamilton – interview coming soon!)
NAU Veteran Student Services
Pete Yanka, Director of NAU Student Veteran Services
Steve Smith, lecturer and interviewer, co-project manager, retired US NAVY
Laurie Jordan, Assistant Director of NAU Student Veteran Services
Zach Hamilton, FCB-VSC Coordinator
Cline Library Special Collections and Archives
Peter Runge, Head of Special Collections and Archives and co-project manager
Cindy Summers, Library Specialist, Sr., Student Assistant, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives
Britney Bibeault, Student Assistant, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives
Mowana Lomaomvaya, Student Assistant, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives
Will McMullen, Student Assistant, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives
Ryan Hitt, Student Assistant, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives
Zach Mauck, Student Assistant, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives
Amelia Loeber, Student Assistant, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives