UTC Veteran and Military Affairs is led by Director Sylvana Matthews and Associate Director Robert Dorsett. Photo by Angela Foster.
At the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic year, approximately 600 veterans, military-affiliated students, spouses and dependents of veterans were enrolled at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, comprising more than 5% of the student population.
“Our community is growing and getting stronger,” said UTC Veteran and Military Affairs Director Sylvana Matthews. “Military community often speaks word-of-mouth. They tell each other, they tell family, they tell their brothers and sisters, their next-of-kin. When they come to UTC and Chattanooga, they build a close-knit community here.”
Others have taken notice of UTC’s military community.
UTC has received 2024-2025 gold designation status as both a military-friendly and military spouse-friendly institution from Military Friendly, a national veterans organization.
According to the Military Friendly website, schools with the designation “strive toward and succeed in the areas that matter most in helping veterans make the transition from the military to school and, ultimately, satisfying careers in the civilian world.”
As Matthews explained, UTC strives to provide an excellent experience for those coming to the University from the military community, including active military, National Guard members, adult learners, traditional-age college students, spouses and dependents.
“Part of the transition process is letting them know that we exist and where to find us,” said Matthews, who came to UTC in August 2021 after serving in a similar role at Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee. “We might not have all the answers, but being able to strategize, create partnerships and build this community up so they know they’re not alone is our focus.
“Many of our students appreciate that because they are searching for something. It might not be that standard sense of belonging that they know of, but they want to get the full collegiate experience and see what services we have for that peer-to-peer engagement.”
UTC Veteran and Military Affairs Associate Director Robert Dorsett was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps from 2006-2013. He started at UTC in fall 2022 after spending his post-Marines career with several higher ed institutions in Arizona, beginning with his own educational pursuits at Estrella Mountain Community College in Avondale, Arizona.
“It’s a different culture going from military into higher ed,” Dorsett explained. “There’s different lingo, different words, a different mindset that goes into it.
“When I first got out, it was very much a struggle to go through; a lot of services we offer when I first went to school didn’t exist or weren’t there, so one of my passions is to help our new students so they don’t have to learn the hard lessons the way I did. We help bridge that gap.”
After Matthews arrived at UTC, she established the Veteran and Military Affairs Student Ambassador Program. An essential component of this initiative is that UTC students play an important role in easing the transition.
Student Ambassador Program services include peer-to-peer support, transition support programs and services, academic college success and case management services, and connection to on- and off-campus resources.
“This program allows for more student-to-student interaction because the student ambassadors work in our office and do a lot of the legwork,” Matthews said.
Creating relationships and connections permeates throughout the department.
“Sometimes when students come in, they’ll come in with just this one single problem, but as you work with them, as we start hearing their story a little bit more, you actually discover there are multiple pieces,” Dorsett said. “We try to be that connector, that resource for what they need—and look at each student holistically.”
Other UTC services include talks on financial readiness, a computer lab, printing services, and introducing the University’s military community to the many student services on campus.
Those services aren’t just for those who served. The office also works with military spouses and dependents.
“That is probably one of the favorite parts of my job,” said Matthews—whose father served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. “Many spouses and dependents are looking for just as much transitional support as a veteran. I enjoy speaking with dependents and spouses and letting them know that their benefit goes further than they thought.
“We truly are military friendly—not only for the veteran but also for the dependents and spouses. They all benefit from going to a military-friendly institution.”
Learn More
UTC recognized as Military Friendly School
Veteran and Military Affairs Student Ambassador Program
