The Tennessee Army National Guard and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga ROTC Department hosted an event—Educator Flights—to thank UTC for its support of the military on April 21 with Black Hawk helicopters at the center of the festivities
photo by Angela Foster
A new student mentoring initiative aimed at helping active-duty service members, military veterans and their families successfully transition to the college classroom is being launched this fall at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Veteran and Military Affairs Student Ambassador Program is designed for service members currently enrolled in classes at UTC, military veterans, dependents and spouses. An essential component of this initiative is that UTC students will play an important role in easing the transition.
The initiative is a rebrand and restructuring of what was previously known as the Veteran Peer Mentoring Program.
“This is for anyone military-connected,” said Sylvana Matthews, UTC director of veteran and military affairs.
“The previous program was restricted to mostly just veteran students and not necessarily everybody in the community, so we broadened it to include dependents that are support systems for veterans as well as spouses—because they go through their own transition as well with the veteran.”
At the beginning of the fall semester, Ms. Matthews said her office has a database of approximately 500 people, “and that’s not including alumni, facilitators and even departmental staff—such as deans—who are veterans that support the initiative.”
The Veteran and Military Affairs 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.