ATLANTA/LITHIA SPRINGS/MCDONOUGH/MACON – Mercer University will welcome a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Mobile Vet Center (MVC) to the Cecil B. Day Campus in Atlanta, the Douglas County Regional Academic Center, Henry County Regional Academic Center and Macon campus during the second week of November leading up to Veterans Day.
An MVC is a 39-foot motor coach designed to bring traditional Department of Veterans Affairs readjustment, entitlement and information resources to veterans and their families across the country at no cost. Like community-based Vet Centers, Mobile Vet Centers focus on services that help veterans make the difficult transition between military and civilian life.
An MVC from the Marietta Vet Center will be stationed at 3001 Mercer University Dr. in Atlanta from 12-6:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, at 975 Blairs Bridge Road in Lithia Springs from 12-6:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 and at 160 Henry Parkway in McDonough from 12-6:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.
Additionally, an MVC from the Macon Vet Center will be stationed at 1501 Mercer University Drive in Macon from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.
“As a designated Military Friendly School and Georgia's first Purple Heart University, we are proud of our close partnerships with the military and especially the Department of Veterans Affairs, whose training and education mission, like ours, is to provide unmatched support to veterans, ensuring their success on campus,” said Dr. Penny Elkins, senior vice president for enrollment management. “We have also invited veterans in the communities where we serve to take full advantage of this vital resource and visit the Mobile Vet Centers at Mercer's locations. We are honored to host the Mobile Vet Centers and offer our deepest appreciation and thanks for the service and sacrifice made by all veterans and their families.”
An MVC has the capacity for two counselors to provide services to eligible veterans and their families. The motor coach houses a satellite dish that connects to communications and audio-visual equipment, six phone lines, a fax line, notebook computers, four encrypted computer lines and Wi-Fi.
A readjustment counseling technician drives the MVC, maintains the vehicle and the mobile platform consisting of state-of-the-art communications equipment and a full-service office, and provides the MVC's outreach services. A Vet Center or VA counselor will also be on-hand to provide clinical services.
For more information on the services that will be provided by the MVC, contact retired Lt. Col. Scott Mahone, Mercer's assistant director of regional academic center operations, at (678) 547-6551 or mahone_s@mercer.edu.
Mercer is dedicated to supporting the educational success of servicemen and women, veterans and their families as they pursue their educational goals. This unwavering commitment has resulted in the University being named a Military Friendly School, a designation reserved for the top 15 percent of universities and technical schools in the country that are doing the most to embrace military service members, veterans and family members as students and ensure their success on campus.
In April 2015, Mercer was named Georgia's first Purple Heart University by the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Additionally, this September, the University was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the nation's No. 83 Best College for Veterans.
For more information on Mercer's alliance with the military, visit workingadults.mercer.edu/military.
