By Matthew Montoya
For any faculty members or administrators who have worked with undergraduate students, there’s a plan to keep you occupied this summer!
What Is It?
The Title V Faculty Advisory Board and the Title V Management team invite you to apply to become a FLIGHT Certified Mentor. This grant offers valuable resources as UIW continues to build the FLIGHT program to infuse mentoring broadly into undergraduates’ experiences–both inside and outside of the classroom.
When Is It?
From June 14 to July 17, FLIGHT will offer an asynchronous training opportunity and the training will be led by members of the Faculty Advisory Board and the Director of the Flight Mentor Center.To make sure that everyone gets all the help they need, and for everyone’s schedule to be as flexible as possible, participants will need to plan to dedicate 3-4 hours per module within the defined time periods below:
Module 1: Understanding the UIW Mission – June 2-June 12
Module 2: Financial Literacy – June 13 – June 22
Module 3: Student Success and Wellness Resources at UIW – June 23-July 2
Module 4: Effective Mentoring: FLIGHT Plans and Mentor Moments – July 3-July 18
New Mentor Update
The Title V FLIGHT Program has welcomed Mercedes Torrez to UIW and the FLIGHT Team as the director of the FLIGHT Mentor Center. In this role, Torrez will be in coordination with the FLIGHT Faculty Advisory Board and will continue to develop and manage both the virtual and physical spaces of the FLIGHT Mentor Center as well as training initiatives. Torrez also brings a ton of experience to the team as well. She spent nearly 10 years at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, where she led Tutoring Services and founded and directed the university’s First-Generation Student Center and mentor program. She also worked with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, where she supported scholarship administration and program management efforts at the national level. She’s passionate about creating programs to support and empower students and can’t wait to bring her talents to help students at UIW.
Where can I sign up?
There are limited seats in each FLIGHT cohort, and you don’t want to miss your opportunity to be considered for this University-wide initiative, so please complete the application at: FLIGHT Summer 2025 Application by Friday, May 2. If you have questions about the FLIGHT program or this training opportunity, please email Sandy McMakin, Title V Project Director at mcmakin@uiwtx.edu or Mercedes Torres, Director of the FLIGHT Mentor Center at metorre5@uiwtx.edu.
