Yolanda Medina, director of UWM’s Military and Veterans Resource Center, has been named the 2024 Woman Veteran of the Year by the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.
The award, created in 2008, recognizes female veterans in Wisconsin who have compiled records of exemplary service as military service members, veterans and outstanding members of their communities.
“This award is so humbling. I work with so many wonderful veterans, and to be set apart in this is truly an honor,” Medina said. “I am blessed with a job that speaks to my passion for military and veteran support services. I am blessed to belong to a community that believes in the philosophy of ‘No one left behind.’ This award validates my work and confirms the path I am on.”
A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Medina has been a longtime advocate and supporter of veterans and members of the military. She assisted in the creation of the Latino Veterans Pictorial Project and the Latino Veterans Legacy of Valor in 2011, part of which remains on permanent display at the Milwaukee War Memorial Center.
While working at Carroll University, Medina used her military experience to support the veterans on campus, helping them navigate school and military obligations, connecting them to military education benefits and supporting the creation of a student veterans organization.
At UWM, Medina works with the largest military-related student population in the state. She helped create a combined services space at UWM, doubling the footprint of the Veterans Lounge and computer lab, adding an office for two military education benefits staff, and an office for the only VA VetSuccess counselor in the state. She also promotes mental health and wellness in the student veteran population, co-chairs the Veterans Advisory Council to the Chancellor and sits on the Chancellor’s Council for Hispanic Serving Initiatives at the university.
Medina serves on the boards of the Latino Veterans Legacy of Valor Organization, the American GI Forum, Forward Latino as an advisor to Latinx Veteran issues, and the Southeastern Wisconsin Task Force on Veteran Suicide Prevention.
She is one of the first female veterans from Wisconsin to be featured in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ “I Am Not Invisible” exhibit, part of a national pictorial campaign that brings awareness and aims to increase dialogue about women veterans’ contributions throughout the United States.
In 2019, Medina received the inaugural award of Women Veterans of Distinction from the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2020, she organized the “I Am Not Invisible” 3.0 event, where 48 female veterans from Wisconsin were photographed at UWM to be added to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, doubling their collection.
