Coby W. Dillard is the director of Military and Veterans Affairs at UT Tyler, where he directs the university’s efforts to holistically support its population of student veterans, active/Reserve/Guard members, and their families. His work and research focuses on military-related students and their transition in and through the academic community. A Navy veteran, Coby has written and presented on ways that educational institutions can improve their support services for this unique student population. His higher education career began at Tidewater Community College (TCC) in 2010, where he worked as a VA work-study, financial aid assistant, VA Certifying Official, and finally as an academic advisor at the college’s Center for Military and Veterans Education. He continued his work with military-related students at Regent University from 2016-2017 and returned to TCC as its first Veterans Resource Liaison in January 2017. Prior to his arrival at UT Tyler, he served as the coordinator for Veterans and Military Services at UC Santa Barbara, where his department was recognized with the Villa Service to Students award for 2019-20. He is a graduate of TCC (2012; AS, Social Sciences), Norfolk State University (2015; BS, Interdisciplinary Studies), and Regent University (2017; MA in Human Services Counseling). He also holds a certification as a Clinical Military Counselor.

Coby is also an avid soccer fan, and regularly gets compliments on his office scarf wall in Zoom meetings!