Veterans Programs and Services Shines Spotlight on Women in Military

More than 47 percent of the University of Cincinnati’s 2,000-plus student veterans are women, but female veterans are rarely treated as equal to their male counterparts. It’s not uncommon for a female student veteran wearing military apparel to be asked if it was her brother, boyfriend or husband who had served, said Terence Harrison, program manager of UC Veterans Programs & Services. 

 “A lot of our female student veterans aren’t seen as real veterans by some people,” Harrison said. 

That’s a perception Harrison and his department have been working to dispel. For the third year running, Veterans Programs & Services will host Sisters in Arms, an evening dedicated to thanking female student veterans for their contributions and accomplishments. Five students will receive the Rosa Sanders-Moore Award, named for a UC alum and World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army Women’s Auxiliary Corps. 

The Sisters in Arms event will be held in Tangeman University Center room 400 on March 27 at 6 p.m. 

Nominations for the Rosa Sanders-Moore Awards recipients will be accepted through the end of Friday, March 3. A nomination form can be downloaded here. Forms can be printed, filled out and submitted to the Veterans Programs & Services office, located in University Pavilion room 230, or emailed to Abbey Wulf at duncanai@ucmail.uc.edu. Self-nominations are permitted. 

Sisters in Arms is one of two Veterans Programs & Services events that coincides with Women’s History Month. The other is a screening of “The Invisible War,” the 2012 documentary that investigates rape and sexual assault in the U.S. military. The film received broad critical acclaim upon its release, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and scored 99 percent fresh on RottenTomatoes.com. 

The screening will take place Monday, March 6, in TUC room 427, at 6 p.m. Because of the film’s subject matter, campus advocates from the UC Women’s Center will be on hand and available to viewers during and after the screening.

Also of note: In commemoration of both Women’s History Month and the centennial of the United States entry into World War I (April 6, 1917), two new library exhibits feature illustrated sheet music from the era. Read more about the new exhibits in Source, the UC Libraries Newsletter.