Yolanda Lomeli Medina ’16, M.Ed. ’19

2026 Graduate Of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D.) Award

Yolanda Lomeli Medina ’16, M.Ed. ’19, is the director of the Military and Veterans Resource Center at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she leads campus-wide efforts to support military-connected students, advance culturally responsive practices and promote veteran mental health and wellness. A native of Waukesha, Medina graduated from Waukesha North High School and enrolled at Carroll in 1980 as a theater arts major. During her first year, she made the life-changing decision to join the United States Marine Corps, launching a path of service, leadership and advocacy that continues to define her work.

Medina attended boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina and completed aviation specialty training at the Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee. She was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, where she became the first woman to serve as an environmental systems technician on the AV-8A Harrier aircraft. She graduated second in her class, earned two meritorious promotions and was honorably discharged after completing her tour of duty.

After completing their military service, Medina, her husband, Joe and their growing family spent more than a decade in Texas before returning to Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, they reconnected with the military through Veterans groups like the Marine Corps League, the Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) and the American GI Forum (AGIF) for Hispanic Veterans.

The Medinas assisted the AGIF in creating the Latino Veterans Pictorial Project and the Latino Veterans Legacy of Valor. The collection of over 30 Wisconsin Latino Veterans was exhibited at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in 2011 and is currently archived there. Part of this collection is on permanent display at the Milwaukee War Memorial Center.

Medina returned to Carroll as a staff member in 2006 where she played a pivotal role in building infrastructure and community for military-connected students. She partnered with students to establish the Carroll Student Veterans Organization, which she advised, and helped secure funding and space for a dedicated student veteran room. She also supported key Student Affairs initiatives, including divisional operations, reporting and budgeting. Being on campus, she also chipped away at courses to complete the degree she left over 20 years earlier. She used her husband’s experience with complex PTSD to study the effects of Moral Trauma in service. Work and family took priority, but Yolanda was able to graduate cum laude in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies, focusing on St. Francis of Assisi as a combat veteran. She later earned her Master of Education in Adult, Community and Professional Education from Carroll in 2019, focusing her capstone research on moral injury and forgiveness.

Medina played a pivotal role in building infrastructure and community for military-connected students. She partnered with students to establish the Carroll Student Veterans Organization, advised the group for several years, helped secure funding and space for a dedicated student veteran room and provided military cultural awareness programming for faculty, staff and students. She also supported key Student Affairs initiatives, including divisional operations, reporting and budgeting.

In 2018, she transitioned to UW–Milwaukee, where she now serves the largest military-connected student population in the state. Medina’s advocacy extends well beyond campus. She serves on and advises numerous boards and task forces focused on veteran wellness, suicide prevention, Latinx leadership and women veterans’ visibility, such as 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 women veterans from Wisconsin featured in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ national “I Am Not Invisible” exhibit and organized a statewide event that more than doubled Wisconsin’s representation in the collection. In 2019, Medina received the inaugural award of Women Veteran of Distinction from the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. Additional honors include the 2024 Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Woman Veteran of the Year, Universities of Wisconsin 2024 Outstanding Woman of Color in Education and Viqtory Media’s 2025 Veteran of the Year for Wisconsin.

A proud Carroll alumna, Medina remains actively engaged with the University. She returned as the 2024 Alumnae Leadership Luncheon speaker, is a member of the Old Main Society and regularly attends and volunteers at alumni and campus events. Through her leadership, scholarship and service, Yolanda Lomeli Medina embodies a lifelong commitment to advocacy, access and transformational impact.

See all the 2026 award recipients