In recognition of current and former Santa Barbara City College students, faculty, administrators and staff who served in the Armed Forces, SBCC will host Veterans’ Recognition and Resource Day from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19 at Friendship Plaza on the East Campus.

More than 20 community groups and representatives from elected officials’ offices and more than 15 SBCC departments will be on hand to provide information to assist veterans with services available to them.

At noon, a special presentation will be held featuring keynote speakers Thomas Hofer, senior manager for systems engineering at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems in Goleta, and Tanisha Velez, program security manager, also at Raytheon. Both are Navy veterans.

To raise the visibility of veterans on the SBCC campus, Magdalena Torres, program advisor for the college Veterans Support Resource Center, coordinates a number of special events open to the college and community, including Veterans Welcome Week, Veterans Appreciation Week and Veterans Resource Day in November, and Recognition of Women Veterans and Women in the Armed Services in March. At the close of each academic year, SBCC also names one Outstanding Veteran Student of the Year.

The Veterans Support Program at SBCC has earned both statewide and national recognition. It was named as a 2015 Military Friendly School and in 2010 was recognized as one of the top 101 “Best for Vet” colleges and universities in the U.S. by Military Times EDGE magazine.

In 2011, the program was named a recipient of the John W. Rice Diversity Award from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. This award recognizes outstanding efforts for promoting student diversity and equity within the 112 community college system in the state.

— Joan Galvan is a public information officer for SBCC.