Higher education access and retention; first- and second-generation immigrant students; first-generation college students; and women in higher education leadership.
Sara Montiel joined the School of Integrative Studies in January of 2018 and serves as the Associate Director of Student Services, Integrative Studies. Sara has over 15 years of experience supporting and encouraging the dreams of Mason students and is excited to work with Integrative Studies majors. A current doctoral candidate in Education, specializing in Educational Psychology and Higher Education, Sara’s areas of interests include: higher education access and retention; academic success and motivation of underrepresented groups; effective academic advising techniques and the academic advising experiencing academic difficulty; first- and second-generation immigrant students; first-generation college students; and women in higher education leadership.
In May of 2022, Sara had the esteemed honor of accepting the inaugural Patriot Academic Advisor Inspiration Award, recognizing a member of the GMU community who demonstrates an exceptional commitment to, understanding of, and application of effective diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in their academic advising of undergraduate students.
In the rare moments of respite between semesters, Sara enjoys spending time reading fiction, practicing yoga, going for runs and spending quality time with her young son.
INTS 490: Internship
INTS 395: College to Career
INTS 312: Images and Experiences of Childhood
UNIV 421: College to Graduate School
UNIV 100: Freshman Transition
Ph.D. Education - George Mason University (Doctoral Candidate)
M.S. Educational Psychology - George Mason University
B.S. Psychology - Virginia Commonwealth University
Montiel, S. (2022, June 11). "I am my parents' wildest dream": Using your family's immigrant story to fuel your college success. Early Identification Program (EIP), George Mason University - First2Lead Conference, Fairfax, VA.
McCarron, G. P., Montiel, S., Hassell-Goodman, S., Byrd, X., Kim, N. (2021, June 30). Honoring the intersections: Supporting first-generation immigrant-origin college students[Virtual conference presentation]. Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) - Student Success in Higher Education Conference.