& VETERANS
Serving Those Who Serve
Her grandfather, Paul A. Ryll, a native of Ashuelot, served in the U.S. Navy’s 98th Bombardment Unit during World War II. When he returned home, he enrolled at UNH, earning a degree in electrical engineering in 1950.
“My grandfather was able to attend UNH thanks to the first version of the GI Bill created post-World War II,” Ryll says. “Coming here to help student-veterans like my grandfather had been helped so many years ago felt like a great way to honor him, his service to our country and the time he spent at UNH, which he always spoke of so fondly.”
Ryll has been leading the UNH Military and Veterans Service (MVS) office in the lower level of Hood House since 2021, working with longtime MVS staff member Penny Watson, a full-time employee at MVS since 2018. Together, they support not only student-veterans and active-duty military personnel, but also military dependents utilizing federal benefits to attend UNH — working with roughly 550 students on the Durham campus and an additional 400 or so students at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, UNH Manchester and the UNH College of Professional Studies each year.
For Watson, the professional is also personal: she is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, having served as an aviation operations specialist. She started at UNH as a student-veteran using the GI Bill to help pay for her degree in business administration: management. Between classes, she took a work-study job at MVS. She would go on to earn her master’s in public administration in 2022. As military benefits specialist and school certifying official, Watson helps students understand their military education benefits as well as other VA benefits.
Ryll came to UNH from a similar role at Northern Essex Community College. She had previously worked as a transition counselor for the U.S. Army’s Soldier For Life Transition Assistance Program (SFL-TAP) at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia. In this role, she provided individual and group counseling to active-duty service members, military families and veterans, with an emphasis on career and education planning, transition assistance and integration into civilian life. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Clark University, an MBA from Suffolk University and a master’s in psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
The MVS office was created just 10 years ago — when a small suite on the third floor of Thompson Hall served as its home. Since the move to Hood House, MVS staff have been able to expand student space where students can connect and build camaraderie. There are monthly lunches with open dialogue, a community fridge, a cupboard and appliances for cooking, as well as a steady supply of free snacks. The space also includes quiet rooms for students to study or participate in Zoom classes, as well as a large rest and recreation area full of comfortable furniture, gaming equipment, television, books and snacks. There’s also a conference room where Student Armed Forces Association meetings are held.
“MVS is continuing to work toward greater recognition both on campus and across New Hampshire,” says Watson. “We want to be known as a friendly school where student-veterans and military-connected students can come and find a sense of belonging and support as they work to complete their education.”