In 2015, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center was named the first institution in the UT System to receive the “VETS Campus” distinction from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, recognizing the university’s work to help veterans transition from military service to higher education.
UT Health Science Center has recently taken another major step in its continued effort to be veteran-friendly with the appointment of Commander Mark MacNamara as the new director of Military-Affiliated Student Services and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Student Success.
With more than 20 years of service in the United States Navy, MacNamara has held various leadership positions, including Commanding Officer of the Navy Reserve Center in Greenville, South Carolina, deputy director of the Navy Total Force Pillar and Reserve Program director at Navy Personnel Command, and the Reserve Program director for U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Africa. He has directed the utilization of approximately 1,000 Navy sailors in Europe and Africa.
In his new role, MacNamara will be responsible for a health care-focused transition program for recently discharged or retired military personnel and their dependents seeking careers in health care. He will work with academic and administrative departments to provide support services, including academic coaching, career counseling, and connection with other student support services. In addition, he will recruit military-affiliated students and foster relationships with military recruiters, ROTC programs, and representatives of the Military Health Professions Scholarship Programs.
MacNamara joined the university late last year, after retiring from the Navy. Previously, he was stationed at the Naval Support Activity in Millington.
“When I was getting ready to retire from the Navy, as I was looking back through my career, the thing that I always found the most enjoyable and the most satisfying, kind of my true north, if you will, was mentoring and working with sailors,” MacNamara said. “And so, my goal here is to create an environment specifically for the military-connected people that is very supportive, collaborative, and allows them to achieve all the things they want to, whether they’re veterans using their GI Bill to transition into a civilian career or if they’re students who are using scholarship money to finish their education and then become military officers.”
MacNamara said he wants the university to achieve BRAVO status. The acronym stands for Building Relationships to Advance Veterans’ Opportunity.
“I want to take our campus to that next level,” he said. “And to do that, we need to have a few more things in place here and make our campus a little bit more veteran-friendly. But the focus of my effort is really going to be supporting the students, and then also making our brand a little bit more realized in the military circles and the veteran circles, because I think there’s a lot of really great opportunity here to increase our enrollment.”
“In my role, I am on a journey to create a military-affiliated and veteran-friendly community where students, regardless of their military status, have a network of people with similar experiences who can support each other.”
Commander Mark MacNamara
Charles Snyder, PhD, vice chancellor for Student Success, said MacNamara’s experience in building and maintaining strategic partnerships will be invaluable for his new position.
“His leadership and commitment to mentorship will provide critical support to our students who are currently or will be pursuing commissions in the U.S. armed forces,” Dr. Snyder said. “We are confident that Commander MacNamara’s appointment will significantly enhance UT Health Science Center’s ability to recruit and retain military-affiliated students, ensuring comprehensive support from recruitment to graduation.”
According to the Registrar’s Office, 49 students are currently using GI bill benefits or the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP), which pays for professional education in exchange for future military service.
Additionally, there is also the Financial Assistance Program for certain types of physicians and dentists deemed to be critical to the Department of Defense, he said.
The university is also a Yellow Ribbon School, which provides limited scholarships to the colleges of Dentistry, Nursing, and Pharmacy.
Currently enrolled are students using Chapter 31 Rehabilitation benefits designed to help veterans with service-connected disabilities to find sustainable employment; students using Chapter 35 benefits, which are for spouses or children of veterans who have died, been taken prisoner, declared missing, or are permanently disabled; and students using the Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve program, which is for service members who have been in the Reserve or National Guard.
“One of my roles is to connect these students with the other military-affiliated students and veterans who are on campus that may not be using these benefits but are still considered part of the military-affiliated community,” MacNamara said. “The goal is to make sure that they all have the resources and support they need to succeed. In my role, I am on a journey to create a military-affiliated and veteran-friendly community where students, regardless of their military status, have a network of people with similar experiences who can support each other.”
MacNamara knows from experience the transition from the military to academia has its challenges. Still, he is optimistic about achieving his goals at the university.
“I can say from my short time here that the university has been extremely supportive, a very welcoming environment, and I’m continually impressed with the faculty, the staff, the professionalism, and what this university has to offer,” he said. “And my mission is going to be to make sure that my military counterparts know that we have an outstanding program here, and that Tennessee, the UT System, and UT Health Science Center are committed to veterans and supporting the military. And then to the military students who are here, I would say that they now have an advocate and a resource that they can rely on, that can understand some of the challenges that are unique to military service, and I’m here to support them in their journey toward commencement.”