With an initial commitment of $7.5 million, JPMorgan Chase & Co. will continue to strengthen its relationship with Syracuse University and veterans.

The money will be used during the next five years to launch and support the creation of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families on campus. Because the plans are in the early stages of creation, it is unclear exactly where the institute will be located on campus, said Mike Haynie, founding director of the institute and Barnes Professor of entrepreneurship at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

The plan is to establish the institute within an existing building on campus, Haynie said. SU is not donating any money toward the project but has a commitment in a different sense, he said.

‘The university’s commitment to the institute is also significant, but it is not just in dollars but also includes people and physical space. It is difficult to put an exact dollar amount to that commitment now,’ he said.

The national center will be the first of its kind in higher education and will focus on various issues facing veterans who have served since 2001. Haynie said the institute will center around three pillars of action: educational programming, employment and research.

The educational programming portion will focus on developing programs that provide veterans and their families with skills to be successful, Haynie said. The employment aspect will act as a bridge between veterans and the community to help create employment, he said. Haynie said research will focus on the social, economic, educational and policy issues affecting veterans and their families.

The Veterans Administration recently awarded the Burton Blatt Institute at SU a $483,000 grant to help conduct research to improve veteran employment nationwide, according to a June 13 Burton Blatt Institute news release. The research will be conducted by the Burton Blatt Institute along with Corporate Gray, a veteran-owned business.

According to the release, this grant provides an opportunity for the Burton Blatt Institute and the Institute for Veterans and Military families to collaborate on research concerning employing veterans, both with and without disabilities.

Haynie said: ‘While the focus of the institute will be national in scope, it will also serve to coordinate and develop programs and training opportunities across the SU campus to help SU student veterans be successful.’

medelane@syr.edu

Published on June 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm