Donna M. Mercado

Donna M. Mercado has been with UCF since 2006. Donna started working at UCF as an Academic Advisor, first for the UCF Latin American Studies, and the Women and Gender Study programs, and then for the Office of First Year Advising and Exploration. In that role her work was instrumental in creating and developing the first Latin American Studies BA degree, including courses with emphasis in Latino leadership. Later in her career she had the opportunity to teach SLS 1501 – Strategies for College Success and after her experience teaching SLS 1501, she received an invitation to teach LDR 2001 – Foundations of Leadership, and LDR 2002 – Intermediate Foundations of Leadership. Mercado have been teaching leadership theories and leadership skills since 2015, and for international students that are members of the UCF Global community, for the past five years. Mercado’s students come from as far as the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Starting in Spring 2024 Mercado began teaching LDR 2262- Latinx Leadership, and LDR 2262 – Global Leadership for the U-Lead Program. Mercado currently serves as Student Resources Manager at the UCF College of Nursing and was recently awarded with the prestigious Lourdes Acevedo Student Advocate Award, bestowed by the Florida Academic Advising Association (FLACADA). Mercado works closely with the Latino student population at UCF. She developed and hosted the first ever Spanish BSN, and Spanish Graduate Programs Information Sessions for the UCF College of Nursing, and continues to host both sessions every semester, fully in Spanish. She has served as a guest speaker at different Hispanic student organizations on campus as well as for other academic institutions, leadership organizations, and community events around the Central Florida area. She is an active member of the Hispanic community here in Orlando, and her work in the Latino and Hispanic community with a specialization in the Puerto Rican diaspora has extended beyond academia. Mercado currently works as a volunteer in many community organizations, including serving as Co-Chair for the first UCF Latinos in Action Youth Conference in 2018, and is an active member of the UCF Hispanic Service Institution Task Force, and the UCF Latino Faculty & Staff Association, better known as LaFaSA. Originally from Puerto Rico, she received her bachelor’s degree in education from Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, and a master’s degree from Auburn University, Alabama. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate Degree at UCF in Curriculum and Instruction, with a specialization in Educational Psychology.