Meet the Staff
Joan Putnam
Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center Director
As director of the SDSU Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center, Joan Putnam directs the Center which serves as the hub for all student veteran support services on campus. This includes all aspects of the veteran benefit programs for SDSU’s undergraduate and graduate veterans, active duty military, reservists, and dependents. She serves on the statewide “Troops to College” working group and is co-chair of the SDSU Troops to College working group.
Joan also chairs the SDSU Veterans Scholarship Committee, serves on the SDSU War Memorial Committee and team-teaches a "Military to Student" transition class. Her commitment to veterans extends beyond her work life – her father was a World War II veteran.
Nathaniel Donnelly
Veterans Coordinator
Nathaniel Donnelly was hired as the Assistant Veterans Coordinator in 2007, after working one year as a work-study student assistant. He now serves as the Veterans Coordinator for the busy Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center. He joined the Marine Corps in June 1995 and served in locations throughout the world, such as Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; Guinea, West Africa; and San Jose, Costa Rica. He returned to the infantry following September 11, 2001. He finished his Marine Corps career with one tour in Iraq during Operation: Iraqi Freedom.
Upon transferring to SDSU in 2006, Nathaniel founded the Student Veteran Organization (SVO). In January 2008, he and a group of student leaders founded the Student Veterans of America (SVA). Donnelly is currently an MBA student at SDSU.
Salem Berhanu
Academic Adviser
Salem Berhanu is an SDSU Academic Adviser hired to provide academic advising and planning to severely injured veterans and their dependents at the Wounded Warrior Battalion-West, Camp Pendleton. She has worked in the community college system since 2006 specializing in serving and guiding students with diverse backgrounds, including: learning and physical disabilities, economically and educationally disadvantaged. She received a B.A. in Public Administration at San Diego State University and an M.A. in Education with an emphasis in Multi-Cultural Counseling at San Diego State University. She has been an adjunct counselor at San Diego Mesa College since 2007 and, prior to that, she was an adjunct counselor at both Grossmont and Southwestern Colleges, where she has taught College Success and Personal Growth classes. Ms. Berhanu is the first person in her family to attend college.
Ms. Berhanu has a wide range of counseling expertise, including: academic advising, career guidance, personal counseling, student registration advisement, orientation, testing, teaching, tutoring, and academic planning. She is also familiar with resources for veterans including Scholarships, Financial Aid, EOP, DSPS, TRIO, Career and Transfer services. Her primary goal is to help veterans and their dependents achieve academic success in higher education.
Ms. Berhanu was born in Ethiopia and grew up in a military family. She has lived and traveled in Kenya, Guatemala, Sweden and Germany and her background and dedication make her an excellent role model. Salem can be reached at sberhanu@projects.sdsu.edu
Natacia E. Cordle
VetSuccess Counselor
Natacia E. Cordle is a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor selected by Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), under the Department of Veterans Affairs, to provide benefits assistance and education to Veterans attending San Diego State University. The pilot program, VetSuccess on Campus, is a partnered effort by SDSU and VBA to provide additional support and resources to the increased number of veterans accessing benefits to attend school and to assist in facilitating their educational success.
Ms. Cordle began working in the field of Vocational Rehabilitation in 2004 after graduating from SDSU with a bachelor’s degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She went on to earn her master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from SDSU while working for several non-profit organizations, grant-funded projects, and San Diego Unified School District providing transition services to students with disabilities. In 2007, Ms. Cordle began working as a Case Manager for the San Diego, VA Regional Office’s Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Services. As a Case Manager, she provided vocational, educational, and employment guidance to veterans with disabilities. She served as the self-employment specialist in addition to providing outreach and benefit guidance to Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) seriously injured veterans. She is a San Diego native and grew up in a Navy family. Natacia can be reached at natacia.cordle@va.gov.
Frank Roberts
Military Liaison Officer
Frank Roberts is responsible for outreach with local military bases (except Camp Pendleton) and the military/veteran community in the San Diego area. He also co-chairs the SDSU Troops to College Committee, is a member of the SDSU Veterans Scholarship Committee, a member of the San Diego region Troops to College Committee, and serves as the campus-military liaison for CSU and SDSU Troops to College admissions programs. This includes tracking the retention of veterans admitted under these programs. Frank was an officer in the United States Army and retired after more than 23 years of service. Frank can be contacted at froberts@mail.sdsu.edu or (619) 594-0496.
Marilyn Nichols
Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center Assistant
Marilyn Nichols has worked part-time in the Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center since September 2006. She provides information to the general public and campus community regarding all aspects of Veterans benefits. She also serves as the liaison between Veterans Affairs and students to help resolve payment and overpayment issues. Marilyn also works closely with other campus offices to verify and process undergraduate and graduate student VA benefits.
Robert Turner
Military and Veteran Services, College of Extended Studies
In April of 2008, the College of Extended Studies (CES) created the Military and Veteran Services Office for extended education and promoted Robert Turner to manage this new office. He assists veterans, active duty military and their family members obtain their desired education goal while maximizing their education benefits. The College of Extended Studies offers numerous programs that are approved for Veterans Education Benefits, Military Spouse Career Advancement Account (MyCAA), and active duty Tuition Assistance (TA).
He started with CES as a Program Coordinator in December 2006 after completing 20 years of service with the U.S. Navy. He is a veteran of Desert Shield/Storm, Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. In addition he has served tours of duty in Hawaii, Guam, and the American Embassy Berlin, Germany. Robert can be contacted at rturner@mail.sdsu.edu or 619-594-3047.
Patricia Reily
SERVICE Coordinator, College of Engineering
As coordinator of SDSU College of Engineering’s SERVICE program, Dr. Patricia Reily’s goal is to create a clear academic path from active duty to a successful career in engineering for military veterans. She works with local industry partners and military veterans to match veterans with paid engineering internships and full time employment in engineering jobs. She also works with community colleges and the SDSU College of Engineering to ensure that military experience translates into academic credit where ever possible so that veterans can maximize their educational benefits and complete degree requirements in the minimum amount of time.
A former senior naval officer, Patricia Reily’s Navy career encompassed a wide array of jobs in command, operations, human resources management, recruiting, program management, education and training. Subsequent to her military career, Dr. Reily managed the University of San Francisco’s Tutor Mentor Outreach program and was the Deputy Campus Director of Americorps*National Civilian Community Corps in San Diego, California. Her areas of specialty are: education, organizational behavior, organization development, leadership development, strategic planning, morals and ethics education, sexual harassment prevention training, narrative theory and complexity science. Dr. Reily is also an Adjunct Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of San Diego. Her book on the effective use of story and narrative in organizations: “So there we were…” Leadership lessons from the men and women who make the Navy work is slated for publication in Spring, 2011 by ISCE Press.
