ESU to Host Veterans Day Celebration

East Stroudsburg University will host its 16^th annual Veterans Day Celebration Monday, November 11 at 1 p.m. to recognize local veterans, servicemen and servicewomen in all branches of the armed services. The celebration will be in Beers Lecture Hall. In addition, there will be a military observance adjacent to the “Julia” statue at the front campus circle. Julia was originally acquired by East Stroudsburg State Normal School alumni in 1919 to commemorate and honor the school’s servicemen and women who had died in World War I.

The keynote speaker for this year’s event is Lieutenant Colonel Michael S. Gielbeda. Lieutenant Colonel Gielbeda is the 111th Operations Support Squadron flight commander of the Communications section and Cyber Operations Officer at Biddle Air National Guard Base in Horsham, Pa. He is responsible for planning, organizing, and executing Cyberspace and Information operations and mission assurance for the MQ-9 mission. Lieutenant Colonel Gielbeda leads 32 military members and 23 civilian contractors ensuring critical communications equipment and circuits are fully mission capable 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Additionally, he develops plans and policies, guaranteeing operational readiness and advising the Commanders on all aspects of communications issues affecting the mission.

Lieutenant Colonel Gielbeda graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering Technology and received his commission in 2007. Following Cyber School, he served as the Pacific Enterprise Service Center Branch Chief at Headquarters PACAF. He authored the first-ever deployment strategy for the Indo- Pacific theater, enhancing the future Defense Intelligence Agency Very Small Aperture terminal network capabilities to deliver communications services in degraded environments, while fortifying Pacific Air Forces’ ability to implement the commanders agile combat employment concept. Additionally, he served as the Division Chief at HQ USAFE-AFAFRICA directing a $15 million-dollar top secret network resiliency project, facilitating configuration changes which eliminated theater-wide network outages and established multifaceted capabilities for deployment operations and sustainability for the European theater.

In his civilian capacity, Lieutenant Colonel Gielbeda served as a telecommunications and network engineer for MCI WorldCom between 1997 and 2002, at the time it was the second largest telecommunications company in the world. He worked as a telecommunications network engineer and project manager for JetBlue Airways between 2004 and 2009, installing and programming communications equipment and voice over IP trunking in over 90 locations. Between 2009 and 2018, he worked as a network engineer and project manager for AECOM, a multinational engineering firm, delivering design, planning and engineering solutions worldwide. Lieutenant Colonel Gielbeda is currently employed at a Forbes Top 100 Company operating global Technology Services and Cloud and Cognitive software as a Network engineer in Clifton, N.J.

The Veterans Day Celebration program will also include the armed forces medley, a wreath laying by ESU President Kenneth Long and Lieutenant Colonel Gielbeda, a three-volley salute by the Monroe County Joint Veterans Honor Guard, and the playing of taps.

A reception will be held following the program in the foyer of Zimbar-Liljenstein Hall.

For more information, contact June Pepe in the Student Enrollment Center at (570) 422-2812 or at veterans@esu.edu.

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