Illustrative Quotes From Institutional Leaders in Academic Medicine Regarding Underrepresented Minority (URM) Faculty Recruitment/Retention Strategies, From a Study of Strategies to Enhance Faculty Diversity at U.S. Medical Schools, 2009.

Successful strategies for URM faculty recruitment and retention	Interview responses
Social networks and making interpersonal connections	The most successful recruiting is going out and networking and then calling people proactively. That is the strategy that we have relied on the most. I am currently recruiting for two faculty members and no candidates responded to the ad in the journal. They have all been “somebody sent me the name of somebody who knew somebody.” I few down there and spent the day with him and persuaded him to move here. It's about making personal contacts, making people feel confident that there is a good match between them and the institution, and that they are going to be supported, respected and successful. Just having an ad that says “URM are welcome to apply”—I mean that is sort of the least useful [strategy].
Mentoring/role models	The other big area which has been an initiative has been to provide mentorship to the junior faculty. There have been some challenges … but we have developed formal programs. These have been particularly helpful for junior URM faculty. I had a very good person who wanted to have a mentor who was both of the same race and also highly accomplished, and this faculty member found such a mentor. But later the mentor moved to another medical school and we lost this person, who went elsewhere. Having those role models is a tremendous retention factor and a recruitment factor. Now, if we didn't have those role models, I think my whole program would start to unravel. [URM faculty] may not see the role models that make them feel confident that they will be able to succeed.