With new focus on support and connection, Utah’s Westminster named a top school for veterans

A master networker and consultant, Oz Hutton is generous with advice and contacts for fellow Westminster College students and small-business owners.

Information he is less likely to share: thoughts on his decade of service in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Like many veterans on college campuses, Hutton, who is pursuing a master's degree in business, avoids the military theme with most classmates.

And as more returning service members enroll in college courses after deployment, Westminster, a school of 2,800 students, is hoping to address veterans' feelings of isolation — and make sure they capitalize on the federal benefits they have earned.

The new Center for Veteran and Military Services provides them with counseling, help filling out paperwork and a place to meet or unwind.

"Marines are strong, tall, proud — and they represent the United States. Being vulnerable, accessible, and sharing your difficulties is a whole different side that most of us don't feel comfortable doing," said Hutton, 50. "We tend not to share. But when we're with someone who shares your perspective, it's easier to share."

An opening ceremony is scheduled Friday for the center, led by Sylvia O'Hara, who comes from the University of Utah, where she oversaw student affairs in the Veterans Support Center.

Situated in the center of campus with views of the Wasatch Mountains, it is the school's first spot dedicated solely for its roughly 130 vets and 90 Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students.

For his part, Hutton will visit for vocational rehabilitation to help him cope with diminished function in his limbs — disability he says stems from "testing the limits of my body" during his service from 1982 to 1992. For other students, O'Hara and student staff member Corbin Catmull will detail GI Bill benefits, referral and support services, and other resources.

The center's biggest benefit, O'Hara estimates, will have little to do with the paperwork.

"Having the space, letting them use the space and building the community will be the best resource," O'Hara said. "Somebody who's a 22-year-old student who's a vet doesn't always relate to their peers — to someone who isn't a veteran."

O'Hara believes students who may not have sought out resources beforehand will ask about them once they get acquainted with center staff and with one another.

Catmull, a 28-year-old junior studying public health and administration, agreed.

The former armory chief stationed at California's Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton says Westminster already has the qualities his fellow veterans seek.

"It's tight-knit, great scenery, very local, smaller class sizes," he said. "The service center kind of amplifies that."

Some appear to have taken notice. On Wednesday, U.S. News & World Report named the school the 18th best Western college for veterans. San Antonio's Trinity College took first place.

Westminster President Stephen Morgan in a prepared statement said the recognition is an "exciting" one for the school and "is long overdue."

Westminster is not the only Utah college to win praise for veterans services. Salt Lake Community College has earned the No. 11 spot on Military Times' 2015 "Best for Vets" list of two-year colleges — the only Utah school to make the Times' rankings.

At SLCC, a Veterans Affairs (VA) counselor is available, and a VA psychologist comes in weekly for counseling. That's in addition to a lounge with computers and free printing, academic help and chances to sign up for fishing trips.

Donations for the $300,000 Westminster renovation of the previously empty space in Walker Hall come from a Westminster alumna and trustee, Marine Corps veteran Kim Adamson, as well as the R. Harold Burton Foundation.

The school is accepting further contributions to pay for furniture and maintenance costs.

aknox@sltrib.com