Media Advisory: UB to hold Veterans Day celebration

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo will honor veteran and military service members with a two-part program on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The sixth annual celebration at UB, which was named among Military Times’ Best for Vets: Colleges 2016 rankings, will take place on the North Campus. It is open to the public. Details are as follows:

First part: The event starts at 11 a.m. with a flag ceremony on Coventry Plaza in front of Alumni Arena (building No. 1 on this map: http://bit.ly/1DTCNEV).

The traditional raising of the flag to half-mast and commemorative bell-ringing will take place at 11:11 a.m. An invocation will be offered by the Rev. Mike Zuffoletto, retired Navy chaplain. Taking part in the ceremony will be members of University Police, ROTC color guards and the Thunder of the East marching band.

Second part: The celebration will move to the Black Box Theater in the Center for the Arts (CFA). Dennis Black, vice president for university life and services, will welcome attendees and President Satish K. Tripathi will give remarks.

Also speaking at the CFA are:

• Justine Bottorff, a senior UB nursing student. She enlisted as a combat medic with the 82nd Airborne Division in 2006 and served in multiple locations in Iraq. After four and a half years of active duty, Bottorff retired from the Army as a staff sergeant. She is currently a drill sergeant with the Army Reserve.
• Maj. Andrea Pitruzzella, chief of public affairs for the 914th Airlift Wing. She joined the Air Force in 1981 and served 16 years as an enlisted member before being commissioned as an officer in 1997. She served four years of active duty, then joined the Air National Guard in 1986. She served there for 23 years before joining the Air Force Reserve in 2009.
• Retired Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, deputy director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University. A UB alumnus, he is a 30-year Navy veteran, whose career culminated with his tenure as director of naval intelligence (2005-06) and as the fourth director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2006-10).