When Western Nevada College’s Veterans Resource Center celebrated a reopening event in November, it wasn’t surprising to see Tim Galluzi in attendance. Only three months prior, Galluzi was helping Western raise money for student scholarships by attending the Reach for the Stars Gala in Joe Dini Library.

Obviously, Western still has a special place in Galluzi’s heart.

Galluzi hasn’t forgotten how Western, and the VRC in particular, helped him make a smooth transition from the military more than a decade ago. The VRC provided the Marine Corps veteran with the opportunity to give back to fellow veterans, find purpose in his post-military life and begin building a professional network while earning an associate degree and serving as a pre-admissions adviser for veterans.

Today, Galluzi is the state’s chief information officer who focuses on the day-to-day management of the Enterprise IT Services Division. He leads a top-notch team of dedicated professionals who support the statewide IT infrastructure and platforms.

“I do not think I would be where I am today if it was not for WNC,” he said. “The diversity of classes that I took at WNC opened my eyes to where I could go, to try new things and to be challenged. They helped me see a path that went beyond the technical skills that I had obtained thus far.”

While studying at WNC, ​Galluzi served as president of the Student Veterans Club from 2012-14. He was so much more than a leader for veterans on campus that were increasingly flocking to the college’s burgeoning resource center.

“Tim quickly became the keystone of the club, taking over a sputtering club and turning it into a force on campus,” said Kevin Burns, the club’s adviser and the Veterans Resource Center coordinator at the time.

He established a veterans’ peer mentorship program, created a scholarship research program for student vets, assisted veterans in securing scholarships, held scholarship workshops, helped bring awareness to faculty members about vets suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, and served as a math tutor in the resource center.

As a post-grad from WNC, he transitioned from a work-study student to full-time employee, supporting the VRC through a grant program while earning his bachelor’s degree from Western Governors University. Later, while serving the campus in an IT role, Galluzi remained connected to student vets on campus by continuing to offer mentorship and tutoring.

“I look back at the time in which I was serving, in all capacities at the VRC, as some of the most fulfilling times in my life,” he said. “I could see the direct impact of the work that I was doing, helping veterans who thought that higher ed was out of reach and had challenges with education, find success. It was incredibly rewarding. Looking back nearly 10 years later, I have maintained life-long relationships with those that I worked with, that I served with.”

Galluzi remembers the uneasiness and awkwardness that overcame him before enrolling at WNC after serving eight years in the Marine Corps, including two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan as a communications specialist.

“After departing the Marine Corps, I didn't really have any direction set; I just knew going to school was something that I ‘had’ to do,” Galluzi said. “I distinctly remember having thoughts about how awkward it would be to be starting school nearly a decade after my peer group.”

That tension disappeared once he arrived on campus.

“Day one on campus, I was quickly dissuaded from those thoughts. I quickly learned that WNC was for all ‘types’ of students. WNC gave me space to grow, to find that next step in my career progression,” he said. “More importantly, the courses at WNC retaught me how to be a student again. As a non-traditional student, I had spent nearly 10 years outside of a formal classroom. The instructors at WNC embraced me for my experience and the value that I could bring into the classroom discussions.”

From leaders and instructors on campus, he learned the important role mentors serve and why students thrive at WNC.

“I look back and I can still hear the advice of my mentors, who took me under their wings when there was no requirement for them to do so,” he recalled. “I look back and remember the provoking conversations with my instructors, who challenged me, not only with the work but to push beyond what I thought I knew, to dig deeper. The word that keeps coming to the forefront when I think about my time at WNC is ‘community.’ At the time in my life when I needed support the most, one of the first times I did not know what my next step was, the WNC community embraced, supported and invested in me.”

WNC’s VRC, which originally opened in 2013, provides veterans with VA resources information, education assistance, benefits consultation, work study opportunities, and more. The resource center is now led by Jonathon Jacobson, who also graduated from Western and was an officer with the Veterans Club.

“I will be forever grateful for everything that the Veterans Resource Center provided for me,” Galluzi said. “One of the key benefits to the resource center is the establishment of community; it gathers folks from all walks, who have one key thing in common: the affinity for service. We embraced this at the center to find opportunities to give back, be it hosting Veteran Suicide Awareness events, assisting with a car donation, Poker Run Fundraisers to support a veteran in need, to the everyday service of peer mentorship and tutoring.”

Galluzi has some words of encouragement for veterans who are reluctant to take the next step in their lives through higher education.

"Just do it. Transitioning out of the service is incredibly difficult, even with the best of plans. It is hard to admit, but the transition is scary for most; it is filled with uncertainty and risk,” he said. “WNC affords the opportunity to leverage your earned education benefits to provide a bit of stability and gives the transitioning veteran some of the structure that they have grown accustomed to while in uniform, while still providing the freedom to try new things and chart a new course. The Financial Aid staff at WNC are well-versed in all of the VA Education Benefits and how to appropriately leverage those benefits to support the student veteran. If you are a vet who is on the fence, get on campus, talk with the team at the VRC and the financial aid office and invest in yourself.”

For more information about the services the VRC provides, contact Jacobson in Cedar Building Room 300, phone him at 774-445-3301 or 775-580-4143, or email him at john.jacobson@wnc.edu.