UMS Mentee

The CUNY SPS Urban Male Scholars (UMS) program, a CUNY Black Male Initiative (BMI), is designed to provide culturally competent peer mentoring training for our students who are men of color. While BMI is specifically meant to serve the needs of our students who are men of color it is open to any student in our undergraduate programs. The program Advisory Committee meets regularly to collaborate on program design and improvement efforts. This program is supported by a generous grant from the CUNY Black Male Initiative. Students interested in applying to be mentees should consider the following:

Benefits of becoming a mentee:

• An opportunity to effectively interact, work, and develop meaningful relationships with people of various cultural backgrounds
• Actively participate in forums that promote self-awareness, awareness of others, enhance your cultural knowledge
• Gain exposure to positive peer role models from various cultural backgrounds
• Access professional communities on campus
• Access to academic and career guidance to ease the transition back to college
• Support in overcoming the common barriers to online education for first-term students
• Obtain further understanding of campus services and resources

UMS expects mentees to take initiative towards building the Peer Mentor-Mentee relationship by meeting regularly with your assigned Peer-Mentor. Throughout the semester, the program will offer academic and career development workshops which are always free and open to all Mentees.

UMS Peer-Mentors are trained to help Mentees take responsibility for their learning and challenge themselves to set and achieve new academic and professional goals. Mentees must possess a desire to learn from upper class students; commit to providing programmatic feedback; and have an open mind to new academic and professional experiences. In order to fully benefit from the program, Mentees are expected to meet weekly with their assigned Peer-Mentors; attend skill-building workshops and training sessions; and keep your Peer-Mentor informed of your academic progress.

Students who participate in the UMS program as Mentees will be given priority status in applying for the Peer-Mentor position once they have completed their first term here at CUNY SPS.

Students interested in applying to be a Mentee in the UMS program during the spring 2023 term need to complete this application by Friday, January 20, 2023.

Applicants will be notified of their program status shortly thereafter and will be expected to attend a mandatory training on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, from 6:00-8:00 pm via Zoom.

The UMS program and its activities are open to all academically eligible students, faculty, staff, and alumni without regard to race, gender, national origin, or other characteristics.

If you have questions about the CUNY SPS Urban Male Scholars program, contact program coordinator Michael Gilbert.