How UIC supports student veterans in and out of the classroom

When students walk into the Cisar Student Veterans Center on the UIC campus, they are greeted with U.S. military insignia and uniforms, emblems they may have worn themselves while serving in U.S. military branches. And it makes them feel welcome.

Since opening in 2014, the center - named after Tom Cisar, a 1970 UIC graduate and UIC Athletics Hall of Famer - has welcomed nearly 20,000 visitors, including veterans, active-duty service members, military reservists, ROTC participants and military family members.

Last year, UIC ranked first in Chicago and seventh in Illinois for having the most users of the federal benefits, including the GI Bill Chapters 33, 35, 1606, 1607, which help veterans, service members and their families pay for education and training. UIC had 550 students register for this assistance last year.

At the center, located behind the Inner Circle in Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted St., students find a home where they can interact with other veterans and military-affiliated individuals, learn how to use their Veterans Administration benefits in school and make the transition to college life, said Mia Garcia-Hills, director of student veterans affairs at the Cisar Student Veterans Center.

The center is a space where veterans and others connected to the military feel a sense of belonging, where they can study and create community with others who share similar experiences, said Garcia-Hills.

Currently at UIC, there are 236 military veterans, 66 current National Guard personnel, 65 members of other reserve units and seven active-duty service members using VA benefits.

Student veterans often begin college later than some of their peers, and some have spouses and children. Because the mission of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs is to not only focus on the individual but also on their dependents, the center also provides services to 186 family members of UIC students, said Garcia-Hills, who also serves as an advisor for UIC's chapter of the Student Veterans of America.

Garcia-Hills, who is the daughter of a veteran, spoke to UIC today in celebration of Veterans Day, Nov. 11, when the university will host its annual Veterans Day flag-raising ceremony to honor veterans. The ceremony will take place outside Student Center East and feature the UIC ROTC, UIC Police Color Guard, and UIC Pep Band.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

How does your office support student veterans in their transition from military service to academic life at UIC?

The different ways that we help with that transition from military to civilian to academic life are really by providing a lot of information up front. We walk students through that process and collaborate with the admissions department to offer information sessions. We've done online sessions with City Colleges of Chicago and a program with the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. Once they're here, we focus on being with them in this space and hosting events across campus.

We have a collaboration with the Department of Labor, which has a career-readiness program. Last year, we hosted six sessions with them which were able to help students with branding, how to set up a LinkedIn account, how to do an elevator pitch and how to write a resume. And I think those are the things that really make it so that they understand how they can use the experiences they had while they were in service and translate that information into something that's going to help them. We really try to help our students understand that there are a lot of resources here at UIC.

Our students connect with the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership program, which not only provides veterans physical and mental health services on college campuses, like UIC, but also builds an important bridge to VA benefits, health and home loan services. These resources are a strong foundation that is helpful for them to become successful in their classrooms.

What's unique about the student veteran?

They're coming to us older. The average age of a person who's coming out of the military is around 24 years old. Some of them have already been married, divorced, have kids and need caregivers and have complicated schedules. We want to make sure that we are helping them understand that we see them where they are and we understand that they have competing priorities in their life.

How will UIC be honoring Veterans Day on Nov. 11?

The Office of Student Veterans Affairs is responsible for organizing the flag-raising ceremony that is hosted every year on Veterans Day. I work with the UIC Police Department to identify a veteran who will be honored each year. This year's ceremony, we will honor UIC Police Officer Tim Williams.

Officer Williams grew up in Kankakee, Illinois, where he graduated from high school and enlisted in the Army. He served in the army for six years, where he participated in a peacekeeping mission in Poland and a combat deployment in Afghanistan. He said he came out of it feeling like he had developed leadership skills. He's been a police officer for 14 years, serving the UIC community for seven of those years.

One of the reasons why I thought it was important to establish this as a tradition here is because this is an opportunity for us to tell stories of good men and women who have served their country and their community, and to make sure that we are highlighting their service in a way that can establish a much stronger, positive narrative about what it means to serve.