 He then served as commandant of cadets at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Georgia from 1885 to 1888, at the University of Tennessee from 1888 to 1890, and at the Missouri Military Academy from 1890 to 1896; he also taught English at the latter two institutions.In 1896, Matheson resigned to enter Stanford University, and earned a master's degree in English in 1897.Matheson was hired at the Georgia School of Technology (later known as the Georgia Institute of Technology) as a junior professor of English in 1897, but was quickly promoted to full professor in 1898 due to his department head's sudden and mysterious resignation.