Erin Mathis goes Service to Service

Born in Greece, Erin Mathis moved with his military family to the United States when he was 2, living on various U.S. Air Force bases until his father retired and the family settled for a while in Selma, North Carolina.

“My whole life, I considered North Carolina to be home,” Mathis said.

He fell in love with Chapel Hill as a teenager during a birthday trip to the Dean E. Smith Center for a men’s basketball game.

“I got to watch Matt Doherty in his first year coaching when Jason Capel got his first ever triple-double against Buffalo,” Mathis said of the December 2000 game. “It was a rough time for me, and one of the things I always looked forward to watching was Carolina men’s basketball.”

He was in high school when the family moved to Maryland, and he graduated from the University of Maryland in 2010 and joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

Nearly 25 years later, Mathis found his way back to his dream school.

Mathis is in his first semester with the online Master of Public Administration program with the UNC School of Government, while also serving as a U.S. Marine Corps aircraft maintenance officer with Marine Fighter Training Squadron 402 in Beaufort, South Carolina. He’s in the school’s first cohort of students to pursue their MPA degrees through Service to Service, a program connecting veterans and military families with education pathways and careers in public service.

A military career

His father’s military background inspired Mathis to serve his country, and his sister, Ryan, had also joined the Marine Corps — to play music.

“Seeing her become more outgoing and confident was inspiring,” said Mathis. “She attributed it to her desire to go in the Marine Corps.”

Commissioned as a Marine officer, Mathis completed flight school and joined his first operational fighter squadron in 2015. He served in key billets, including flight officer and director of safety and standardization, and deployed twice overseas, in Japan and the Middle East.

In 2020, he became an adversary pilot, graduating from TOPGUN and weapons and tactics instructor adversary courses. He served as the VMFT-402’s operations officer, guiding the squadron to activation and initial operational capability.

Another type of service

Around this time, another family member inspired Mathis. His younger brother, Sean, who had left college to work full time with the Army National Guard, resumed classes over 15 years later at Kent State University and graduated.

Attending his brother’s graduation prompted Mathis to apply to graduate school. “Why not do it now?” he remembers thinking.

Mathis enrolled in the online MPA program, explaining how difficulties in his childhood influenced his interest in public service in a Service to Service story: “Now that I am older and in a very different situation financially, I want to play a role in ensuring that others are able to receive necessary assistance like I had.”

He’s also fulfilled his dream of going to Carolina.

“I love the accessibility of the online program. Everything I need for my classes is available,” he said. “I really appreciate the amount of interaction I have with the other students. It’s been awesome to interact with people on an academic but also personal level from varied backgrounds and much different levels of experience.”

Back in Chapel Hill, Erin has gone to multiple games with his 3-year-old son, Theodore —Theo for short, just like former Carolina basketball player Theo Pinson ’18.

Mathis may soon have a special tie to Tar Heel football as well. If conditions allow, the U.S. Marine pilot may be leading the squadron flying over Kenan Stadium before the Duke-UNC game on Nov. 22.

Published October 31, 2025