Tennessee National Guard honors APSU for its support of the military

The Tennessee National Guard presents President Licari with an award.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – On Feb. 2, Austin Peay State University Athletics hosted its Military Appreciation Day during the men’s basketball game, and during a break in the action, the Tennessee National Guard (TNG) took the court for a special presentation.

That’s when Sgt. 1^st Class Michael Howard presented APSU President Mike Licari with the Tennessee National Guard Partnership Award. The University received this honorable award because of its longstanding support of the TNG and for Austin Peay’s strong support of its military students.

“At Austin Peay, we take our commitment to our military-affiliated students very seriously, and because of the sacrifices these individuals have made for our nation, we continue to push ourselves to find more ways to serve them,” Licari said in July. He made those comments when Austin Peay became the first University in Tennessee to offer in-state tuition rates to all of the nation’s military-affiliated students, which includes active-duty military personnel, veterans, reservists, National Guard members and their eligible family members.

Austin Peay is the state’s largest provider of higher education to military-affiliated students, with about 25 percent of the University’s students having a military connection. Last year, APSU opened the 5,200-square-foot Newton Military Family Resource Center – the largest, by far, military student center in Tennessee – and in November, the University inducted the inaugural members of its new APSU Military Hall of Fame.

The University’s ongoing support of the military is also evident in the success of its Army ROTC program. Austin Peay’s Governors Guard has earned the General Douglas MacArthur Award an astounding eight times. The U.S. Army presents the award each year to the top eight Army ROTC programs in the country.

During the Feb. 2 Military Appreciation Day men’s basketball game, the University also honored nine APSU cadets who are Distinguished Military Graduates. That means they are in the top 20 percent of Army ROTC graduates in the nation, which consists of between 6,000-6,300 cadets at 275 schools.

Austin Peay’s Distinguished Military Graduates are:

Tory Alexander – Columbus, Georgia.
Andre Bailey – Brooklyn, New York.
Shamarcus Dillon – Jackson, Tennessee.
Julia Dorton – Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Tyler Gilbert – Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Tyler Jeffery – Norfolk, Virginia.
Bradley King – Canton, Georgia.
Jeffery Love – Bath, Maine.
Christina Simpson – Columbus, Ohio.

For information on Austin Peay’s support of the military, visit www.apsu.edu/military.

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