Mara Doze shakes hands with Interim Chancellor Robert Dooley during UTC’s commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 3. Photo by Angela Foster.
At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Mara Doze helped military-connected students make sense of a system that often overwhelms, learning to navigate it for herself along the way.
As a student ambassador in UTC’s Office of Veteran and Military Affairs, she offered support that went beyond paperwork. She answered questions about U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs benefits, explained financial aid processes, connected people to campus resources and, just as often, listened.
Sometimes, Doze said, all someone needed to know was that they weren’t alone.
“Even if they didn’t know where to start, I could at least help them ask the right questions,” Doze said. “That was the part I liked; making people feel like they weren’t alone in it.”
She remembers one student who came in overwhelmed by the benefits process, unsure of what to do or where to go. Doze was still learning the system herself, but she knew how much it meant to have someone willing to walk through it with you.
“He walked in frustrated—and I totally got it because I’d been there, too,” she said. “We sat down, went step by step, and by the time he left, he had a plan. That’s what stuck with me.”
Doze’s work embodied the kind of one-on-one support that helped UTC earn national recognition earlier this year as one of the top 10 public universities in the 2025–26 Military Friendly Schools rankings.
“She may not have worn the uniform, but she carries the spirit of service in everything she does,” said Sylvana Matthews, director of Veteran and Military Affairs. “As a dependent and ambassador, she’s lived the military life in her own way, and through her work, she makes sure that every veteran who walks through our doors feels seen, valued and supported.”
Mara Doze
Doze graduated from UTC on Saturday, May 3, with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and is now pursuing a career in finance. She’s also considering taking additional coursework this fall using the remainder of her VA education benefits—five months and 28 days, as she recently confirmed with the agency.
“I didn’t want it to go to waste,” said Doze, who receives Chapter 35 education benefits through the VA’s Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance program—which supports children and spouses of veterans who are permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected condition. Her father, a combat veteran, retired from the U.S. Marine Corps after 20 years of service as a gunnery sergeant.
A native of Winchester, Tennessee, Doze spent most of her life in the region, with earlier years near Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Her upbringing didn’t follow the usual rhythms of military life—no constant moves, no childhood spent on base. Still, the structure, discipline and quiet influence of her father’s service were always part of the picture.
For most of her life, Doze didn’t see herself in uniform. But after a year of working alongside veterans, active-duty students and reservists at UTC, she’s reconsidering.
“It’s something I’ve thought about lately,” she said. “I used to think I never would, but now I don’t know. Just being around it changes the way you think about what it means.”
Wherever she goes next—into finance, graduate school or possibly military service—she carries with her a firsthand understanding of what real support can look like: steady, practical, human.
“She accepted the opportunity to be a bridge between our veteran students and their success,” Matthews said. “Effortlessly, I watched her lead and lift others up simply by caring enough to listen.”
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