Helping Those Who Have Served
Founded in 2014, University Veteran Services (UVS) works to help veterans build meaningful relationships and find their place within the UW-Madison community.
The transition from military service to college can be difficult without support. As a result, students who have served our country are often a forgotten population in need of specialized programming and outreach efforts to successfully acclimate to campus life. Through its unique initiatives, the Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE) and the Women Veterans Coffee Club, UVS provides opportunities for incoming students to make early connections with each other and allow for continuing students to give back to their peers.
Your donation will help UVS cultivate a community for military-connected students on campus.
UVS programs impact over 900 student veterans and provide direct support to 100 student veterans each year.
On average, service members and veterans at UW-Madison are 6 years older and 2.5 times more likely to be first-generation college students than their peers.
Hundreds of UW Madison students are veterans or currently serving in the military. Another 2,000 students have an immediate family member who is a veteran.
Expanding Our Efforts
Throughout the pandemic, University Veteran Services has extended even more support to veteran students through increased programming and campus engagement. The goal of the work of UVS remains the same: serving military-connected students throughout their entire university experience, from pre-application to post-graduation.
University Veteran Services continues to work to expand and improve upon these efforts through new and broadened initiatives including a peer support mentoring program, a series of monthly “lunch and learn” informational sessions, and a drop-in monthly club for women veterans. Additionally, at the start of each school year will be another student veteran resource fair and lunch, which was used to help engage students with their community prior to the pandemic. The resource fair combines local and campus resources to highlight the commitment among students and volunteers to help build and support the student veteran community on campus.
University Veteran Services’ primary objective is to provide a supportive community for veteran-connected students at UW-Madison. With the return of in-person events, UVS will strive to meet the goal of their mission: to connect student veterans to their greater campus community. Going forward, University Veteran Services will continue to make a difference and stay proactive in addressing the needs of veterans.
Real Students, Real Stories
“I only have positive things to say about University Veteran Services. They’re really moving in the right direction as far as being proactive and connecting student veterans with the resources they need” – Enrique Peña, junior
“My experience with UVS has been nothing short of spectacular. With an office handling the benefits of all military-related benefits, I am always pleasantly surprised by the availability and quick response time that I’ve received. They have been extremely helpful and paramount to my success here at UW-Madison.” – Cody Huggins, junior
“In coming to campus older and more out of practice academically than my peers, it takes a little longer to feel like part of the community here. Interest, acceptance, and assistance from fellow students goes a long way in making veterans feel like part of the community.” – Sean Jackett, graduate student
STUDENT AFFAIRS GIVING PAGE
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UNIVERSITY VETERAN SERVICES
Learn more about University Veteran Services.