NDSU community gathers for Veterans Day ceremony
NDSU staff, faculty, students and community members gathered Thursday, Nov. 6, for a ceremony commemorating Veterans Day. The ceremony, hosted by the Veterans Alliance Organization and the Bison Student Veterans club, honored those across campus who have served and who are currently serving in the military.
This semester, there are a little over 550 students with a military connection enrolled at NDSU, which includes veterans, those currently serving in the National Guard and family members of military parents using GI Bill benefits. NDSU currently has 564 full-time, benefitted employees that have military veteran status in their record.
In her welcoming remarks, Laura Oster-Aaland, Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Institutional Equity, highlighted NDSU’s recent designation as a silver status Military Friendly School for 2025-26, recognizing the university’s commitment to supporting military service members, veterans and their families.
Bryon Parman, U.S. Navy veteran and associate professor in NDSU’s agribusiness and applied economics department, was this year’s keynote speaker.
Parman served six years in the Navy, which included two deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf area. His military duties included maintaining missile and radar systems aboard surface ships, Maritime Interdiction operations and was certified as a Search-and-Rescue swimmer.
During his keynote address, Parman talked about how his time in the military shaped his career path, leading him to earn his master’s and doctoral degrees. In addition to teaching courses on campus, Parman currently serves as the Agricultural Finance Specialist with NDSU Extension.
Following the event, members of the Honor Guard from Fargo VFW Post 762 performed a brief flag-raising ceremony in front of the Memorial Union. Rylie Schick, a junior instrumental music education major from Mandan, North Dakota, performed the Sounding of Taps, and Carlin Johnson, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and senior vocal music education major from Roseau, Minnesota, performed the National Anthem.
“I was just thrilled to see how many people expressed their interest and support for NDSU's veterans by making time to attend our ceremony. There are so many extraordinary experiences and skills that our veterans bring with them to their work and studies, I love having chances like this to highlight them," said U.S. Air Force veteran Jim Stoddard, the assistant director for Veterans Educational Training at NDSU.
