Military veterans have a new resource at Georgia Perimeter College’s Dunwoody campus.

The Board of Regents awarded them $20,000 allowing them to create a military outreach center.

Under the College Access Challenge Grant Program, the center will allow veterans to receive one-on-one academic advising, information on service projects and first-year seminars, as well as a student veterans club.

Identifying military veterans will be the greatest challenge said Patricia Filios, military outreach coordinator for the board.

“You can’t tell by looking at someone if they’re a veteran or not,” she said. “Through the funding, we were able to give the university the ability to work with veterans and give them a place where they can come get information about any other college or any activity on campus.”

The center can be found within the Advising, Counseling and Retention Services office in the student center.

Col. Robert Knowles serves as the military outreach coordinator, working directly with veterans.

“There is a contingent of faculty, like me, who are combat veterans,” he said. “Many of us were doing voluntary things before this program got off the ground.”

One of his concerns is the retention of veterans, one he hopes to address with this resource.

“This is their first step in becoming re-assimilated in the civilian world,” he said. “We have so many career paths that are open to them. Sometimes they don’t know that or they’re anxious about taking advantage of them.”

Filios said another benefit of the resource is building a military and veteran community.

“It will give military people a place to connect with one another,” she said. “It’s extremely important that they have that camaraderie.”

Although the center is housed on Georgia Perimeter’s Dunwoody campus, veterans from other campuses also have access to the services.

The center is operating on limited hours.

Military or veteran students can visit the center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon. Appointments also can be scheduled.

Georgia Perimeter’s Dunwoody Campus is at 2101 Womack Road in Dunwoody.

Information: (770) 274-5026.