WHAT: Media availability for the Department of Veterans Affairs announcing a new initiative to help student veterans succeed thanks to a partnership with the Iowa City VA Health Care System and the University of Iowa. The program, the first of its kind in the nation, is called the Iowa Consortium of Veteran Excellence (ICOVE).

WHEN: Monday, May 12, from 1 to 2 p.m.

WHERE: 2780 University Capitol Centre.

Directions: This is on the south end of the Old Capitol Town Center in downtown Iowa City. Enter the south end of the center by the food court and if you take the escalator to the second floor, Room 2780 (staff lounge) will be immediately in front of you on the west side of the building.

WHO: Present for the media availability will be the following:

• UI's Chief Diversity Officer and veteran Georgina Dodge, who is also the ICOVE principal investigator.
• Michael Hall, ICOVE director and Iowa City VA Health Care System neuropsychologist, who is also an affiliated faculty member in the UI Carver College of Medicine.
• U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa's 2nd Congressional District.
• UI student veteran Greg Touzani, a UI student veteran in the Tippie College of Business, who is a junior finance and accounting double major from Tiffin. Touzani will travel to New York for a summer internship with an investment banking firm. He recently finished an internship with Ernst and Young accounting firm in Des Moines. He is also the former president of the UI Veteran Association. See related story here.
• UI student veteran Michael Considine from Sioux City, Iowa, who is the current president of the UI Veteran Association, majoring in business management in the Tippie College of Business. Considine, joined the Iowa Air National Guard Jan. 22, 2010, and was on orders last year for six months including a deployment to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
• Several other UI student veterans will also be on hand to speak with members of the media.

WHY: The UI has approximately 600 UI students who identify as veterans with almost 90 of them planning to graduate this May. The UI consistently is recognized as one of the best schools in the nation for veterans, ranking in the top 10 best colleges for veterans in the inaugural U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges for Veterans. The UI also made Victor Media’s list of Military Friendly Schools for the fifth consecutive year last fall.

RESOURCES FOR BROADCAST AND PRINT MEDIA: Footage of the remarks will be available for download at focus.media.uiowa.edu/shares/mediadrop/ after 3:30 p.m. Monday, May 12. For questions contact Ben Hill with UI Video Services at 319-384-3400 or benjamin-hill-1@uiowa.edu.