November 7, 2018
To: Members of the University Community
From: Darren Reisberg, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Deputy Provost
Subject: Announcing the new Office for Military-Affiliated Communities
Date: November 7, 2018
I am pleased to announce the formation of the new Office for Military-Affiliated Communities. This new office will serve as a centralized University resource for activities taking place across University units to better serve the interests of military-affiliated students (whether prospective or current), faculty, and staff. Overseeing the office is Bridget Collier, Associate Provost for Equal Opportunity Programs.
The creation of this University-wide office also will help amplify the range of programs, support services and partnerships the University currently has in place, including:
- The annual Veterans Day recognition event for our campus community, which will be held this Friday, November 9, from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the School of Social Service Administration lobby at 969 E. 60th Street. This year’s program, which you can register to attend here, will feature keynote speaker Eric Gleacher, MBA ‘67 and 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.
- 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 with veterans to prepare them to begin 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 advisor 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.
- Chicago Booth’s 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 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.
- Faculty research focused on improving healthcare for veterans. For example, in September 2017, 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. Should you have any recommendations, or for more information, please e-mail veterans@uchicago.edu.