A new location for the Veterans and Military Resource Center officially opened at the University of Central Arkansas during the spring semester of 2024. The newly renovated building will now be shared by both the Veterans and Military Resource Center and the Office of Student Success. The facility offers new amenities, such as a study room, computer lab, kitchen, lounge, meeting room and veteran’s benefits processing office.
Formerly, the resource center was located in a small suite within Harrin Hall. Since the center’s relocation, the space has provided more services and space for active-duty military and veteran students.
The resource center moved into its new location a week after the 2023 fall term ended. The center was outfitted with new furnishings for its grand opening in February 2024.
“The center has been in the works for a few years,” said Greg Pelts, director of the Veterans and Military Resource Center. “I came on board working at UCA with the veterans office two years ago, and it was already a concept then. The veterans office’s primary focus was just processing benefits, which is still extremely important and will always be one of the main pillars of what we do. But we knew that when it opened, we would be expanding the scope of what we did in numerous ways. You know the old saying, ‘If you build it, they will come., UCA has built it, or I should say refurbished an existing building, and the students are coming. But I truly believe that over time, we will see an increase in our military student population here at UCA because word will get around.”
The Veterans and Military Resource Center is designed to assist student veterans, dependents and active-duty military members as they seek to better understand and access their education benefits. Several services are available at the center, including assistance with medical claims, access to VA loans, processing military benefits and more. To maximize their chances of success, the resource center assists veterans in adjusting to civilian college life. To help veteran and active military students connect with the community, the center will also provide various forms of outreach.
A significant initiative to help students make that transition is opening a chapter of the Student Veterans of America organization, a nonprofit organization committed to addressing the needs and concerns of American military veterans in higher education.
“Many of these military and veteran students have had some fascinating experiences. They’ve done a lot of things that few people can say they’ve ever done,” said Pelts. “They’re used to a certain structure that the military has that the civilian world doesn’t. With each, there’s a transition that they’ve got to make, and some of them need a little help making that transition. For many of the veterans and currently serving military members on campus, they often get that feeling that they’re a fish out of water, that they don’t quite blend in with everybody, but we’re giving them an opportunity to congregate.”
The relocation allows the resource center to encompass a much larger space and provide many more amenities for students. Once a small suite, the resource center is now equipped with a kitchen, lounge area, study room, computer lab, processing office and meeting room for visiting professionals and speakers. In addition to providing a quiet work environment for students, these areas also provide them with a safe space to gather and relax between classes.
“Being able to go from our cramped room in Harrin Hall to having a brand new, revamped center where we are currently located has been a blessing not only for our work-study students but for our military-connected students on campus,” said Tyler Tichenor, an active member with the Arkansas Air National Guard and a senior criminology major. “There can’t be enough said for how much our director Greg Pelts has been able to rejuvenate this program and get it back on the right track to ensure our students have as seamless a semester as possible while knowing that we have a place made just for them. Being able to go to work every day and see students come to hang out, discuss the news and work on homework in a safe place has been very rewarding to watch.”
“The center has only been used for roughly three months. Already, I see regulars visiting and using the space as they please,” said Tyler Gavin, an Army veteran and student majoring in anthropology. “These people are student veterans, current service members who attend National Guard and Reserve drills on the weekends, and the dependents of service members who have been gifted the benefits that their parents earned serving our country. I have made more friends at this center in the past three months than in the entirety of 2023 when this center did not exist on campus. Having a space to interact with other veterans and service members is the highlight of my day, and it’s the only space I spend my free time on campus, and I know other student veterans that share that feeling.”
“I believe that the new Veterans and Military Resource Center has a genuinely positive impact on the military-affiliated students here on the UCA campus,” said Robert Walker, a retired Army veteran and student. “I have talked with students from other universities who sought out our center to get guidance for receiving benefits at their schools. At its most basic level, the center provides a detail-oriented and streamlined avenue to process students, VA benefits so that they can focus on their studies. On a deeper, more personal level, I believe that the UCA Veterans and Military Resource Center and the students that populate it provide a location to connect with others on a shared academic path to success. With over 400 students using VA benefits on campus, we certainly have a large community to rely upon for information, encouragement and support.”