The University of Iowa College of Education’s Yareli Mendoza has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs advisory committee on women veterans.

Mendoza, a U.S. Air Force veteran and a veterans’ resource specialist at I-SERVE—which helps veterans pursuing degrees in teaching, counseling and rehabilitation, and assessment—is one of four board appointees who will advise the VA secretary on issues and programs important to female veterans, their families, and caregivers.

Mendoza is a doctoral candidate in the UI’s Higher Education and Student Affairs Program. She enlisted in the military in 2005, where she spent five years as part of the security forces branch of the Air Force. She served two tours in Iraq, in 2006 and 2008, and one in Afghanistan in 2009.

“As the VA continues to work toward modernization, the committee’s guidance will assist the department in meeting important and evolving needs of women veterans,” said VA Secretary David J. Shulkin in a news release. “The new chairwoman and new appointees’ deep and broad perspectives are invaluable in anticipating these needs.”

The committee provides policy and legislative recommendations to the secretary.