Yulanda Curtis – College of Law https://law.illinois.edu Thu, 02 Oct 2025 18:05:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Rebranding the Department of Defense is a miss, Curtis writes https://law.illinois.edu/rebranding-the-department-of-defense-is-a-miss-curtis-writes/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 18:05:16 +0000 https://law.illinois.edu/?p=17882

In an opinion piece written for Stars and Stripes, Professor Yulanda Curtis shares her feeling that rebranding the Department of Defense as the “Department of War” is a damaging decision. She draws on her background as the daughter of service members as well as the founder of the Veterans Legal Clinic at the College of Law to share uncommon insight into the issue. “I see firsthand the mental and physical sacrifices service members make. As the daughter of veterans, I watched my parents serve this country for decades,” she writes. “There’s a high risk our troops will experience a lasting moral injury as they are ordered to act as political instruments.”

Read the full editorial on Stars and Stripes.

]]> Aronson and Curtis selected for OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship https://law.illinois.edu/aronson-and-curtis-selected-for-oped-project-public-voices-fellowship/ Thu, 18 Sep 2025 20:42:30 +0000 https://law.illinois.edu/?p=17764

Professors Lauren Aronson and Yulanda Curtis have been selected for the University of Illinois System OpEd Project/Public Voices Fellowship. The program is part of a national initiative to help faculty amplify their expertise in ways that can contribute to public conversations about pressing issues.

The 20 faculty members in the 2025-26 cohort will attend four sessions during the 2025-26 academic year and will be paired with a journalism mentor who provides one-on-one editing and coaching. Fellows will publish two or more op-ed pieces during the program.

Congratulations to all of the faculty who were selected for this year’s program:

Chicago

  • Veerasathpurush Allareddy, professor and department head of orthodontics, College of Dentistry
  • Daylan Dufelmeier, director, Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Partnerships
  • Giamila Fantuzzi, professor and associate head, department of kinesiology and nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences
  • Jeni Hebert-Beirne, professor, Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health

Springfield

  • Akash Belsare, assistant professor, department of English and modern languages

Urbana-Champaign

  • Luvell Anderson, professor, department of philosophy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Lauren Aronson, clinical professor, director of Immigration Law Clinic, College of Law
  • Jose Atiles, assistant professor, department of sociology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Maria Bonn, associate professor and director, master of science in library and information science, School of Information Sciences
  • Yulanda Curtis, clinical professor, College of Law
  • Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson, associate professor, department of philosophy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Rachel Hoopsick, assistant professor, department of health and kinesiology, College of Applied Health Sciences
  • Kathryn Huff, associate professor, department of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering, and director of advanced reactors and fuel cycles group, The Grainger College of Engineering
  • Fatima Husain, professor, department of speech and hearing science, and associate dean, College of Applied Health Sciences
  • Martin Persson, assistant professor, department of accountancy, Gies College of Business
  • Mary Phillips, associate professor, department of African American studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Koustuv Saha, assistant professor, department of computer science, Siebel School of Computing and Data Science
  • Bobby Smith II, associate professor, department of African American studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Haileleol Tibebu, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences
  • Travis Wagner, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences
]]> Illinois LawCast: Veterans Legal Clinic with Yulanda Curtis and Luke Hemmerla https://law.illinois.edu/illinois-lawcast-veterans-legal-clinic-with-yulanda-curtis-and-luke-hemmerla/ Fri, 25 Oct 2024 20:17:00 +0000 https://law.illinois.edu/?p=16910

Founder and director of the Veterans Legal Clinic, Yulanda Curtis, joins the podcast to discuss her passion for providing civil legal services to the veteran community. In the second half of this episode, 3L student Luke Hemmerla, a current member of the Missouri Army National Guard, joins to discuss his work as a clinician and how his military background has helped him in this role.

More information about the Veterans Legal Clinic can be found on their website. If you would like to contact the Clinic to see if their services might be right for you, the number to call is (217) 244-9494 or you may email law-clinics@illinois.edu.

Listen online.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please email podcast@law.illinois.edu.

]]> Curtis and student clinician speak with WEFT about the Veterans Legal Clinc https://law.illinois.edu/curtis-and-student-clinician-speak-with-weft-about-the-veterans-legal-clinc/ Mon, 15 Jul 2024 15:45:00 +0000 https://newstest.collegeoflaw.web.illinois.edu/?p=13541

Veterans Legal Clinic Director Yulanda Curtis and Briley McVey ’24 joined the WEFT program “Catch the Beat from Market Street” to discuss the different services provided by the clinic and share experiences working with veterans and their families. Their half-hour interview spans a number of topics and provides great insight into why the work of the Veterans Legal Clinic is so important.

Listen to the full interview on WEFT.

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