ASU Hosts Salute to Service

Arizona State University will honor military members, veterans, and their families from Nov. 6 to 16.

The university serves more than 22,000 students with military connections. ASU has 700 veterans working on staff. Shawn Banzhaf, executive director of the Pat Tillman Veterans Center, noted that fewer than one-tenth of 1% of Arizona veterans are inducted into the state’s Veterans Hall of Fame. Banzhaf was recently inducted into that hall.

President Crowe’s father was a World War II veteran and part of a military family. Banzhaf said this background influences the institution’s culture from the top down. "And that starts at the very top with our boss. With President Crowe, his dad was a WWII veteran, and he was part of a military family," Banzhaf said. "So when you have it all the way at the top, it trickles down to everybody else."

Colleges at ASU will host events throughout the week. The schedule includes a Friday evening workout and a veteran’s powwow. The Salute to Service football game will take place on Friday when ASU plays Colorado. Banzhaf said the university expects a flyover of planes during the game.

Banzhaf described the goal as being military supportive rather than just military friendly. "It’s one thing to be military-friendly and say thank you for your service, but being military supportive is more of what ASU is about," he said. He emphasized that the work continues after service members leave the military. "It’s not the service that you have while you’re in your uniform. It’s the service after the uniform."

The Pat Tillman Veterans Center aims for veterans to feel appreciated and students to feel inspired to serve. Banzhaf said the institution’s approach to honoring service is unique. "No university out there does it the way we do it," he said. He added that maintaining a democracy requires collective effort. "We live in this democracy, but it takes each and every one of us to do the work," he said.