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WSU Receives Million Dollar Donation for New Veterans Program

Reynolds & Reynolds | Photo from Reynolds & Reynolds


Local company and long-standing sponsor of Wright State University, Reynolds and Reynolds donates over three and a half million to the school of business to launch a program for veterans and to provide additional aid to business students. 

Gift from Reynolds and Reynolds

According to a WSU press release, Reynolds and Reynolds recently donated $3.6 million to the university. In the release, university President Dr. Sue Edwards said that this is one of the most substantial donations in WSU’s history. 

Entrepreneurship for veterans 

The Reynolds and Reynolds donation will allow Wright State to take part in the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans. The EBV is a program that comes from Syracuse University on behalf of Syracuse’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, according to the WSU release. 

According to Syracuse’s EBV webpage, the program is open to “post 9/11 veterans with Honorable discharge”, who are interested in starting or learning more about running a business venture. Veterans do not have to be enrolled as students prior to applying to the program, according to the WSU press release.

Dr. Tom Traynor, dean of the Raj Soin College of Business, believes that the donation provides a wonderful opportunity for the Dayton region. 

“The gift for the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans is going to be terrific for this region because there are quite a few veterans in the area as well as future veterans,” Traynor said.

Traynor explained that the gift from Reynolds and Reynolds will pay the costs of the EBV program, which will include a 30 day online course that will create an equilibrium in terms of learning the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and an eight day workshop at WSU.

Director of the WSU Veteran and Military Center Dr. Seth Gordon says that there are multiple schools that have this program as well. 

The VMC director explained that any veterans who are interested in enrolling in the program can do so by filling out the EBV application from the Syracuse University enrollment portal. Upon acceptance into the program, there is only one thing that veterans would need to do after.

“The only thing the veteran has to do is get themselves to the airport. Everything else is paid for,” Gordon said. 

Paid items include a plane ticket, transportation, food, amenities and the curriculum itself, according to Gordon.  The VMC director also spoke about how the office would participate in the program’s happenings.

“My assistance would be in using my network to basically say ‘here’s some possible sponsors and here are veterans who also are entrepreneurs and let’s engage them,’” Gordon explained.

For Gordon, the donation from Reynolds and Reynolds expands Wright State’s reach, considering that veterans from all over the nation could choose the Dayton campus as an EBV location.

That said, Gordon is particularly excited about the facilitation of relationships that the program will create. Networking opportunities for veterans will also arise; in theory, the EBV program will help veterans with entrepreneurial pursuits while also providing mentorship and community, according to Gordon. 

“I know that people like to put things in dollar amounts, but relationships have real value, and this is a relationship-focused endeavor for Wright State,” Gordon said.

Scholarships for business majors

In addition to the $3 million given to facilitate the EBV program at Wright State, Reynolds and Reynolds is donating $600,000 to fund scholarships for students in the College of Business.

According to Traynor, the goal of these new business scholarships is to help students with high financial needs that remain after initial aid has been disbursed. 

“The scholarships are going to be $5,000 a year for students, starting this year, starting their sophomore year through their senior year. So three years and $5,000 each year,” Traynor said. “It’s gonna benefit 45 different students, that’s a significant chunk of students.”


Trey Brown

News Editor

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