{"id":14302,"date":"2009-12-03T14:20:41","date_gmt":"2009-12-03T21:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=14302"},"modified":"2015-08-17T14:50:51","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T21:50:51","slug":"vet-returns-for-nau-commencement-after-40-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/vet-returns-for-nau-commencement-after-40-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Vet returns for NAU commencement after 40 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most graduates at Northern Arizona University\u2019s fall commencement will toss their caps to the future, but\u00a0Doug Vinnes<\/strong>\u00a0will let his soar for the past.<\/p>\n

Vinnes, 62, earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in education from NAU in 1969, but weeks before graduation ceremonies, he was drafted through a lottery system into the Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got my draft notice and while my graduating class went to commencement, I was on my way to Fort Bliss in Texas to report\u00a0as a physical activity specialist at the hospital,\u201d Vinnes says. \u201cI remember telling my parents to read my degree certificate to me word for word over the phone because\u00a0it was sent to my home address in Iowa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
2,200 to receive diplomas
\nduring fall \u201909 commencement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly 2,200 Northern Arizona University students will receive their diplomas during fall\u00a02009 commencement<\/a>\u00a0exercises Dec. 11 in the Walkup Skydome.<\/p>\n

The ceremony for colleges of Arts and Letters; Business; Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences; and Social and Behavioral Sciences; the Master of Administration; and the Yuma branch campus will begin at 10 a.m. The ceremony for colleges of Education and Health and Human Services will start at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Robert L. Millis, director emeritus of Lowell Observatory, and James C. Ramos, chairman of the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, will be awarded honorary degrees of humane letters. Millis will speak the earlier ceremony while Ramos will address students in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Commencement exercises will be aired live on NPG Cable Channel 4 and University House Channel 9411 on the Dish Network and will bewebstreamed<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Vinnes will travel from his home near Dallas to join NAU\u2019s\u00a02,200 graduates to celebrate their educational achievements during the university\u2019s Dec. 11 commencement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came across an article in the Dallas newspaper about a vet going back to receive his diploma, and I said to myself, \u2018Why can’t I go to the\u00a0graduating ceremony\u00a0that\u00a0I missed at NAU?\u2019\u201d\u00a0Vinnes says.<\/p>\n

Vinnes, who will serve as the Vietnam Veteran era standard bearer during the exercise, says because of his NAU education, he will be as enthusiastic at the 2009 ceremony as he would have been at the 1969 commencement exercises.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can look back at my education at NAU knowing that I have the foundation in the mental, physical and spiritual faculties to handle anything\u00a0I attempt to do,\u201d Vinnes says. \u201cI can be grateful I have had the opportunity to work at major corporations and\u00a0one of the largest school districts in this nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinnes career highlights include working for 10 years as a travel consultant for American Airlines and as an elementary school teacher for the Dallas Independent School District. He continues to substitute teach in Garland, Texas.<\/p>\n

Neil Goodell<\/strong>, director for NAU Alumni Relations, says Vinnes return is acknowledgement of \u201cthe long-term commitment demonstrated by our alumni community. This also serves to cap off NAU\u2019s yearlong recognition of our alumni veterans and military personnel. We are truly looking forward to Doug\u2019s return to campus for commencement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most graduates at Northern Arizona University\u2019s fall commencement will toss their caps to the future, but\u00a0Doug Vinnes\u00a0will let his soar for the past. Vinnes, 62, earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in education from NAU in 1969, but weeks before graduation ceremonies, he was drafted through a lottery system into the Army. \u201cI got my draft notice…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":14306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}