The University of Chicago has created the Office for Military-Affiliated Communities to provide a new resource for prospective and current students, faculty and staff, including those who serve in the military, veterans and members of military families.
The new office serves as a central home for the University’s military-affiliated work, helping to amplify a range of programs, support services and partnerships currently in place across UChicago. Overseeing the office is Bridget Collier, associate provost for Equal Opportunity Programs at the University.
“Those who serve in the military, veterans and their families are an essential part of the University of Chicago, adding a vibrant and diverse array of perspectives and experiences. The Office for Military-Affiliated Communities provides an important new resource for members of our community,” Collier said.
The University-wide office will help coordinate and advance varied programs and partnerships in place across UChicago. They include:
- The College’s increase in the recruitment, enrollment and support of veterans and their dependents through partnerships with, among others, the Posse Foundation. The Foundation’s Posse Veterans Program works to prepare veterans for their undergraduate education and provides mentoring to them throughout their undergraduate experience. To ensure the success of the increased number of enrolled veterans, the College will have a dedicated adviser in its Career Advancement office who, in close collaboration with the new Office for Military-Affiliated Communities, will coordinate veteran students’ participation in Career Advancement programs and in the life of the College more broadly.
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business’ recent doubling of its contributions under the Yellow Ribbon Program, a part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Qualifying veterans now receive up to $30,000 in benefits from Chicago Booth. This is a significant expansion of Booth’s participation in the program, which has been in place at the school since the revised federal bill passed in 2008.
- The annual Veterans Day recognition event for our campus community, which will be held Friday, Nov. 9 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the School of Social Service Administration lobby at 969 E. 60th St. This year’s program, which you can register to attend here, will feature keynote speaker Eric Gleacher, MBA’67, a Marine Corps veteran who has generously established a permanent scholarship fund for veterans seeking an MBA from Chicago Booth.
- The University’s partnership with the Army Research Laboratory, announced in November 2017, with the establishment of ARL Central, a regional headquarters for research and technology development based at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation on 53rd Street.
- Faculty research focused on improving health care for veterans. For example, in September 2017, Prof. Robert L. Grossman, director of the University’s Center for Translational Data Science and chief architect of the National Cancer Institute’s Genomic Data Commons, began collaborating with the Boston VA to develop a system that will enable the better analysis of one of the largest datasets in the nation for cancer genomics and clinical data, and improved insight into cancer, the second leading cause of death in the U.S.
Additional information about these and other efforts and resources can be found on the new Office for Military-Affiliated Communities website.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
