Delta Air Lines officials who work with more than 10,000 veterans at their company visited Middle Tennessee State University Wednesday, Feb. 20, for a firsthand look at the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center and veterans’ initiatives.

The half-day meeting allowed MTSU officials to learn more about Delta’s Veterans Business Resource Group and for MTSU’s Keith M. Huber and Dr. Hilary Miller to share details about the Daniels Center — all with a goal of developing a relationship to help the university’s military-connected students find jobs in all areas of Delta.

MTSU student veterans study at the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center as Keith M. Huber, left, senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives, takes Delta Air Lines Veterans Business Resource Group members Tyrone Barmore, Carmela Carter and Kurt Robinson on a tour Feb. 20 while meeting to discuss possible educational partnerships. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

“This visit by the Veterans Business Resource Group and board is significant, given the fact that Delta Airlines has 80,000 employees and over 10,000 of those are veterans, and to be able to offer to those veterans an awareness and access to their VA benefits and education benefits and to assist them with the Daniels Center,” said Huber, senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general.

“To assist them and their families while they are in transition is the noble reason that we’re are having this interaction and further development of this relationship,” Huber added.

Kurt Robinson, Delta manager for quality control receiving inspection, president of the airline’s Veterans Business Resource Group and a former U.S. Air Force crew chief, said he and his two visiting colleagues from Atlanta were impressed with what they saw and heard.

“It (MTSU) is an outstanding organization,” Robinson said. “We like their goals and objectives.”

He added that the campus visit was “to understand what the veterans center is doing” and “understand future opportunities for veterans and veterans’ families.”

Robinson was joined by:

• Delta tech operations supply attendant Tyrone Barmore, the Veterans Business Resource secretary and communications officer and a U.S. Army veteran.

• Carmela Carter, an analyst for the engine and component maintenance team in Atlanta TechOps and treasurer for the veterans group, who was a 14-year Army executive assistant before joining Delta.

Delta Airlines Veterans Business Resource Group member Tyrone Barmore, left, listens as Dr. Hilary Miller, director of the MTSU Daniels Veterans Center, talks about the center and veterans’ initiatives Feb. 20. MTSU and Delta officials discussed a potential veterans’ partnership during the visit. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Robinson mentioned the airlines’ Delta Propel partnership with the MTSU Department of Aerospace, which began in 2018 and offers a fast-track program for qualified aerospace students to become Delta pilots.

“We have veterans from maintenance to our flight operations group to flight attendants, seeing where we can blend that all in and maybe give our current employees opportunities that you have here (at MTSU) and learn more about the veteran benefits,” Robinson said.

The Daniels Center works with a student veteran population of more than 1,000, which includes family members. Miller is the center director.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

Visitors from Atlanta, Ga.-based Delta Air Lines’ Veterans Business Resource Group join MTSU officials for a photo in front of the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center near the end of a Feb. 20 meeting. From left Daniels Center Director Hilary Miller; Delta representatives Tyrone Barmore, Carmela Carter and Kurt Robinson; and Keith M. Huber, senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)