LA JOLLA — A resource center to provide support to the growing number of student veterans at UC San Diego was dedicated Thursday.
The center will help former members of the armed forces connect with other groups and resources, according to UCSD.
"At UC San Diego, we are committed to supporting our student veterans," Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said. "These men and women have served our nation and they bring diverse life experiences and perspectives to our campus, and that's part of what makes UC San Diego an exceptional institution."
The university has 251 students who were formerly in the military, 30 more than last year.
UCSD also announced that former Army communications specialist Billiekai Boughton, who was instrumental in establishing the facility, was named the school's 2013 Veteran of the Year.
Boughton, chairwoman of UCSD's Veterans Association for two and a half years, provided telecommunications and radio support during operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield in the Middle East. She's now an executive assistant at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UCSD.
Friday, groundbreaking is scheduled for a veterans center at Cal State San Marcos, which estimates 1,100 of its students have served in the armed forces -- making it the highest per-capita ration in the California State University system.
The school received a "smart house" to use for the center from students at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. The building was entered in the U.S. Department of Energy's 2013 Solar Decathlon before it was donated.
The structure will be placed on a vacant lot adjacent to Science Hall 1 and Markstein Hall at CSUSM.
The events are taking place this week because the schools are off for the Veterans Day holiday on Monday.
