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Recruitment of Minority Individuals into
Ruth L. Kirschstein
Institutional National Research Service Awards (T32)

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institutes of Health

Revised: February 2003


back to Supplemental Guidelines for the Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is strongly committed to increasing the number of minority individuals who receive training in heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders research and is, therefore, requiring all applicants for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) training grants to submit an acceptable minority recruitment plan as part of their application package. A minority recruitment plan must apply specifically to the proposed training program, in addition to the efforts put forth to recruit for the institution as a whole. Although collaboration with the institution’s Minority Affairs Office is not discouraged, that alone is not sufficient to fulfill the requirement. To assist in the implementation of this policy, the Institute has prepared the following suggested elements, examples, and questions and answers regarding recruitment strategies for underrepresented minority individuals.

I.     SUGGESTED ELEMENTS FOR A PLAN TO RECRUIT UNDERREPRESENTED
        MINORITY STUDENTS

In developing a plan to recruit minority students, Program Directors may wish to coordinate their activities with the institution’s office of graduate studies or research administration. For example, some institutions already employ an individual whose major responsibility is minority recruitment. There may be university-wide graduate opportunities programs, minority student services programs, and special support mechanisms. The following suggestions are not exhaustive and are not meant to be all-inclusive. Recruitment efforts have been developed, taking into account the special resources and circumstances of individual institutions. Many of the suggestions below are directed to predoctoral training grant programs. With some modifications, they may be applied to postdoctoral training grant applications as well.

A. Publicizing the Program
     
  1. Notice in journals indicating that the program is actively recruiting minority students.
     
  2. Recruitment sessions and posters and flyers for display and distribution at scientific meetings, including those sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) Program, and Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program.
     
  3. Communications (e.g., letters, phone calls, brochures, posters) with deans and department chairs at schools having substantial minority enrollment. Lists of these schools may be obtained from the NIGMS MBRS and MARC programs, and from the United Negro College Fund.
     
  4. A video tape, describing graduate training opportunities at the recruiting institution, for use at schools and at scientific meetings.
     
  5. Contact the Student National Medical Association, sub-specialty groups within the National Medical Association (such as the Association of Black Cardiologists) and place notices in the Journal of the National Medical Association.
     
  6. Post notices on web sites of university, minority colleges and institutions with high proportions of minority students and trainees, and subspecialty organizations.
   
B. Targeted Activities
     
  1. Visits by training grant program directors, preceptors, and participating students to schools with substantial minority enrollments to publicize graduate training opportunities.
     
  2. Programs designed to identify and attract potential minority applicants. Examples include summer research programs for undergraduates, special science courses, and workshop/seminars on research opportunities.
     
  3. Career fairs at colleges or biomedicine-related events.
     
  4. Booths at medical conferences focusing on minority physicians and scientists.
     
C. Interaction with Applicants
     
  1. Direct communication (e.g., letters, phone call) with prospective applicants. Potential minority applicants may be identified through the efforts listed above and from the following sources:
       
    a. Minority Graduate Student Locator Service of the Educational Testing Service (can be searched by specific criteria)
    b. Lists compiled by the institution or shared by affiliated institutions
    c. Students supported by Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) and Minority
Biomedical Research Supplement (MBRS) programs
    d. National Science Foundation (NSF) predoctoral minority fellows
    e. Scientific societies’ minority mailing lists
     
  2. Invitations to prospective minority applicants (individually or in groups) to visit the campus and meet the faculty and students.

II.     EXAMPLES OF MINORITY RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES

 
  • Contact deans of medical schools with a large number of minority students (such as Howard, Meharry, Morehouse, University of Puerto Rico)
   
 
  • Inform deans of minority affairs in medical schools with formal minority programs (such as Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Duke, Case Western, University of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas)
   
 
   
 
  • Contact Association of Minority Health Professional Schools and National Association of Medical Minority Educators
   
 
  • Canvas directors of cardiology programs with high percentage of minority students
   
 
  • Work with office of student affairs of your institution and minority schools to identify, contact, and recruit minority students
   
 
  • Meet with representatives of minority health organizations
   
 
  • Interview all minority applicants
   
 
  • Review Minority Graduate Student Directory as a source for mailing list
   
 
  • Place ads in journals targeting minority students
   
 
  • Submit positions to FASEB placement service
   
 
  • Plan a symposium on career areas and opportunities for minorities in biomedical sciences
   
 
  • Teach a course at a local minority institution
   
 
  • Expose minority college students, medical students, and house staff to early research experiences by offering summer research opportunities
   
 
  • Actively seek and encourage applications from minority house staff and give special consideration in reviewing them
   
 
  • Develop relationship with Student National Medical Association and other associations of minority medical and graduate students and medical residents
   
 
  • Contact career counselors and faculty advisors

III.    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

  1. What is the NIH interpretation of “underrepresented minorities” as it relates to the NRSA minority recruitment statement?
     
    This statement addresses the recruitment of eligible individuals from the full spectrum of minority groups, but with special emphasis on African Americans/Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and non-Asian Pacific Islanders. Although recruitment of women as trainees is a very important priority, it is not addressed in the initiative.
     
  2. How will applications be reviewed by the Initial Review Group?
     
    As is customary, applications will be discussed by a primary and secondary reviewer on the basis of scientific and technical merit and a priority score will be voted. A tertiary reviewer will evaluate and lead the discussion of the proposed minority recruitment plan. The evaluation should provide answers to the following questions:
     
   
  • Are the applicants utilizing the resources available to them for identifying and recruiting minority trainees?
     
   
  • Are the applicants proposing appropriate procedures for recruitment?
     
   
  • Have the applicants documented past efforts at minority recruitment? If so, what were the results of those efforts?
     
   
  • Are they proposing to change or expand their past practices?
     
   
  • Are additional measures recommended to improve the applicant’s success in minority recruitment?
     
   
  • What are the retention rates of minority trainees?
     
   
  • What is the success rate in entering and staying in biomedical research career tracks of the minority trainees completing the program?
     
    An approved plan is required before an award can be made.
     
  3. What is considered an acceptable minority recruitment plan?
     
    An acceptable plan should include specific steps that you will take to actively seek and recruit and retain underrepresented minorities into your training program. Elements of the plan might include such approaches as active recruiting at minority institutions and/or minority affairs offices at majority institutions in your region or nationally. Regional or geographic considerations will often dictate the most reasonable or productive elements in the recruitment effort. In any case, individual program directors are expected to be creative and innovative in developing specific plans for their program. Statements such as the intention to work with the institution’s Minority Affairs Office, or to follow the institution’s affirmative action guidelines should be one aspect of the plan, but each plan must be developed further to include additional approaches to fulfill the objectives of this minority recruitment effort.
     
    Training Directors are expected to describe their minority recruitment plan in terms of:
     
   
  • Contact (stepwise plans for recruitment)
     
   
  • Trainee evaluation and selection procedure
     
   
  • Past record
     
    Examples of recruitment strategies (not an exhaustive list) are provided below. This list is provided for your information only. Selections of appropriate approaches is the responsibility of the Training Director and the institution.
     
   
  • Collaboration with the institution’s Minority Affairs Office
     
   
  • Personal contacts through visits and national meetings
     
   
  • Advertising in appropriate journals and meetings
     
   
  • Information to potential applicants
     
   
  • Placement services
     
   
  • Early research opportunities
     
   
  • Links to minority institutions, including undergraduate institutions
     
   
  • Brochures
     
   
  • Letters to minority institutions
     
   
  • Announcements to MARC Training Directors and others
     
  4. Who needs to submit a minority recruitment plan?
     
    All research training program directors who submit new, competing renewal, and non-competing continuation applications must include a minority recruitment plan. Following acceptance of the plan, minority recruitment progress must be reported for each subsequent year. If the plan is missing in new or competing renewal applications, the application will be administratively deferred, or possibly returned to the sender as incomplete thereby delaying its review. If the minority recruitment progress report or minority recruitment plan is absent from noncompeting continuation applications, the NHLBI will not be able to process the application. This could cause a delay in the award for the next budget period of your grant and thus create a possible interruption in funding.
     
  5. What effect, if any, will minority recruitment status have on funding decision?
     
    Several elements are considered in reaching funding decisions. Intrinsic scientific and technical merit are paramount. Plans and subsequent accomplishments in recruitment of underrepresented minorities into training programs will be other elements considered in deciding allocation of resources. Institutional NRSA applications without adequate minority recruitment plans will not be taken to the NHLBI Advisory Council until an adequate recruitment plan is received and approved.
     
  6. Will trainees from minority groups be judged by different standards or qualifications?
     
    No. All trainees will be selected based on the customary bases of who will gain most and
subsequently contribute most by obtaining training. This document emphasizes only the importance of efforts to recruit qualified individuals from underrepresented minority groups.
     
  7. How will progress be reported and monitored during the project period?
     
    Progress will be assessed on the basis of the non-competing and competing continuation applications, which should include a section on the status of minority recruitment efforts and document changes in recruiting plans. Non-competing applications without this section will not be considered for funding until it is received and reviewed.

 
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