A free conference aims to assist Illinois veterans navigate college successfully.
Combat to College will be from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in the Brown Ballroom at the Bone Student Center, and is geared toward student veterans as well as veterans’ coordinators and administrators from Illinois colleges and universities.
Registration is required by April 11, and can be completed online.
Speakers will include college veteran services experts and leaders from veterans’ affairs and higher education agencies, who will discuss programs and services to facilitate student success. The keynote speakers will be President Charlotte Warren of Lincoln Land Community College and State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia.
Warren is a retired colonel and honorary brigadier general for the Georgia National Guard. She holds a doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in psychiatric/mental health nursing from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Chapa LaVia is in her third term as a member of the Illinois General Assembly. While in college, she honed her leadership skills as a cadet in ROTC, completing basic training in 1988 and serving as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army until 1993. She continued her service in the National Guard until 1998 and is currently on Inactive Ready Reserve.
The conference is co-hosted by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, the Illinois Community College Board, the Illinois Campus Compact and Illinois State University.
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