Five Yalies with military experience named 2024 Tillman Scholars

In 2003, Genevieve Chase was serving in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army’s 10^th Mountain Division, when a car armed with an improvised explosive device plowed into the truck in which she was riding.

Everyone in the truck survived the attack, but Chase suffered a traumatic brain injury. After returning home, she struggled with her injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), experiencing severe depression and suicidal ideation. She recovered, in part, by devoting herself to advocating for improved benefits and services for veterans.

“At my lowest moment, I heard a voice telling me, ‘If you feel this way after one deployment, how are your fellow vets — your brothers and sisters — going to feel when they return from Afghanistan and Iraq?’” said Chase, who is now a rising Yale junior and part of the Eli Whitney Students Program (EWSP), which offers non-traditional students with high academic potential the opportunity to enroll in Yale College to complete their bachelor’s degrees. “It was an epiphany. I suddenly understood that I needed to do whatever I could to ensure that other soldiers would have support when they returned home.”

Working with veterans’ organizations and other advocates, Chase successfully lobbied Congress to amend the new G.I. Bill, a 2008 law that extended educational benefits for military veterans who served after 9/11, to better support single-parent veterans. Following this legislative victory she founded, with her sister, American Women Veterans, a groundbreaking nonprofit focused on the rights and wellbeing of women and LGBTQ veterans.

This summer, Chase was one of five Yale students and military veterans named Tillman Scholars by the Pat Tillman Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by the friends and family of Pat Tillman, the former NFL player turned U.S. Army Ranger who was killed in action in 2004 while serving in Afghanistan.

Joining Chase as 2024 Tillman Scholars are Hillary Browning, a U.S. Navy veteran, rising third-year student at Yale Law School, and 2020 graduate of Yale College through the EWSP; Zac Cobb, a U.S. Air Force veteran and rising first-year student at Yale Law School; Nicole Echols, a sergeant major in the U.S. Army and a student in the MBA for Executives program at the Yale School of Management (SOM); and Galen Jones, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran pursuing a Master of Public Health and Master of Business Administration through the joint degree program at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) and SOM.

Through its scholars program, the Tillman Foundation provides scholarships and leadership-development training to a growing community of active-duty service members, veterans, and military spouses. The program supports individuals who are committed to continuing their service in the fields of health care, business, law, public service, STEM education, and the humanities.

The Yale group is part of the 2024 cohort of 60 Tillman Scholars, who were chosen from a nationwide pool of 1,600 applicants. The foundation currently supports more than 900 Tillman Scholars at more than 150 universities.

It is the third consecutive year that a EWSP student at Yale College has been named a Tillman Scholar. Bob Atkinson ’24 and Andrew Nguyen ’22 earned the honor in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Including Browning, four EWSP students have earned the distinction since 2022.

“These extraordinary students’ success is an affirmation that they were right to dream big and apply to Yale and that there are even bigger things out there awaiting them.,” said EWSP Director Risa Sodi, associate dean of Academic Affairs. “It shows that their undergraduate experience at Yale College helped them gain the confidence to pursue other prestigious opportunities.”

Veterans currently compose half of each new class of Eli Whitney students, Sodi said.

Browning, who served as a military journalist in the U.S. Navy, credits the program with providing opportunities for enlisted service members, who often lack the educational backgrounds of officers.

“Someone who has graduated from a service academy might feel a little unsure of themselves when applying to a place like Yale but imagine how it feels to be an enlisted service member with no college experience doing the same thing,” she said. “Being an Eli Whitney student helped me build up my confidence to apply to Yale Law School or to be a Tillman Scholar.”

That the five latest Tillman Scholars span Yale College and three of Yale’s professional schools demonstrates that Yale’s veteran community stretches across campus, said Holly Hermes, university liaison for veteran and military affairs.

“Yale hosts a vibrant, diverse community of military and veteran students who have served or are serving in the armed forces. This year’s Tillman selectees reach across the breadth of the student veteran and military community at Yale representing multiple schools, different military specialties and service in the Army, Air Force, and Navy,” Hermes said. “It’s inspiring to see so many of our student recognized by the Tillman Foundation for their commitment to lifelong learning and leadership.”

For her part, Chase says she is excited to join the network of Tillman Scholars.

“It will be great to meet other veterans who are as focused on public service as I am,” said Chase, a resident of Berkely College. “It will be as exciting as it was to come to Yale.”

Meet Yale’s latest Tillman Scholars:

Hillary Browning

Born and raised in Texas, Browning enlisted in the military on a dare from her father. Serving as a military journalist, she was stationed in Japan and deployed to Afghanistan, working for the American Forces Network in both locations. She also served on the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, where she helped produce the ship’s daily newspaper. 

After her service, she was the first in her family to attend college. She transferred from community college to Yale through the Eli Whitney Student Program, graduating in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Following graduation, Browning worked for Service to School, an educational nonprofit that helps veterans apply to college and graduate programs. She continues to serve on the organization’s board of directors.

At Yale Law, Browning serves veterans in two ways. She helps them access health care and other essential services through the Solomon Center for Health, Law, and Policy’s network of medical-legal partnerships, which situate legal services within health care settings and provide essential legal support for meeting health-related social needs. She also participates in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic, in which students represent veterans in litigation before administrative agencies and courts across a broad range of matters such as veterans’ benefits, immigration, and civil rights.

Genevieve Chase

In 2013, about a decade after her injury, Chase was redeployed to Afghanistan, working for U.S. Army military intelligence at Forward Operating Base Shank in eastern Afghanistan, known as “Rocket City” due to its status as one of the most rocketed military bases in the country.

After the deployment, Chase again struggled with PTSD and contemplated suicide. And, again, she emerged from the depths of depression ready to face new challenges. At Yale, she says she enjoys the support of four distinct communities: her fellow EWSP students, other veterans, her residential college, and her Yale College class.  

“I have the support of so much community here,” she said of her time at Yale. “Every day, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

For her service during her first deployment to Afghanistan, Chase received a Purple Heart, Combat Action Badge, and Joint Service Commendation Medal. During her second deployment, she earned a Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in a combat zone.

A rising junior in Yale College, she is majoring in philosophy.

Chase volunteers as a court-appointed special advocate for foster children. She plans to attend law school after graduation with the aim of pursuing a career advocating for veterans, children, and domestic violence survivors. She is participating in the Yale Law School Launchpad Scholars Program, which focuses on increasing opportunity and equity in education and the legal profession. Participants receive tools and resources — including one-on-one mentorship, LSAT preparation, and step-by-step guidance — to help them successfully apply to the law schools of their choosing.

She continues to serve in the U.S. Army Reserve and was selected among less than 1% of her peers to attend the highly regarded Noncommissioned Officer Corps Workforce and Leadership Development course at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.

Zac Cobb

After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin and working in investment banking for three years, Cobb enlisted in the U.S. Air Force with the goal of becoming a Pararescue Specialist (PJ). After completing the PJ training program, he was assigned to a Special Tactics Squadron and was deployed to East Africa. 

In the fall, Cobb will resume his academic journey at Yale Law School. He hopes to use his law degree to continue public service, doing his part in upholding and strengthening the rule of law.

“I care about working hard on important things,” he said. “Serving in uniform was an honor and a privilege, and with a legal career ahead, the hard work continues.”

Cobb sees a clear path from his time in U.S. Special Operations to a legal education, and to the highest levels of leadership and responsibility in his community. He believes that the United States’ military and it justice system are the nation’s two most important institutions, and he is eager to take the lessons learned while in uniform to continue serving his loved ones, his community, and his country as an attorney.

Nicole Echols

A sergeant major in the U.S. Army, Echols says she recognizes the invaluable experience she has gained, particularly in problem-solving and leadership, over the course of her more than 20 years of military service. She has honed her skills through numerous overseas tours, building relationships with delegates, diplomats, and corporate representatives to align efforts and achieve strategic outcomes.

“The military is the beginning of my lifelong journey of service. I will bring the best of my experiences into future business initiatives to make a positive impact on society,” said Echols, a student in the MBA for Executives program at SOM. “I chose Yale SOM because the school’s commitment to social impact and values resonate with my military experience and my career aspirations.”

The mission and values of SOM align with her career aspirations, she said, offering a springboard into the global business arena. She has founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering military women in U.S. Special Operations forces by providing them expense-paid family planning options not covered by the U.S. military. Echols says she hopes such support will enable these women to serve longer and from a position of strength, while minimizing personal sacrifice.

Galen Jones

Raised in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, Jones enlisted as a combat medic in the U.S. Army directly out of high school. He earned a Green Beret in 2017. While stationed in Germany, he was deployed multiple times to the Baltics. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, exactly one month after Jones left the Army, he immediately volunteered to travel to Ukraine with an international medical NGO. While there, he taught trauma medicine to internally displaced people. While in Ukraine, Jones witnessed numerous factors that make medical responses challenging during humanitarian crises, directly inspiring him to pursue a career in humanitarian medical response. 

“[Pat Tillman’s] story inspired me even before I joined the military, and now I’m humbled to join a community that embodies his values of service, scholarship, humble leadership, and impact,” Jones said. “These same principles drew me to Yale, where I’m surrounded by equally passionate individuals striving to make a positive difference in the world.”

While pursuing dual master’s degrees in public health and business administration, he is researching safe implementation methods for telehealth services in conflict settings and techniques for evaluating attacks on healthcare infrastructure. He plans to use his academic experiences to mitigate the impact of conflict on health care.

Presently, Jones is a summer intern with the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, supporting humanitarian efforts in Sudan.