Relationships are key to recruiting, certainly establishing a trusting relationship with a prospective student, but also by building on existing relationships that MSU faculty and staff have their colleagues at other colleges and universities.

An effective recruiting strategy is to add joint undergraduate projects to grants that span multiple universities. Undergraduates can gain critical experience and also get to know the people at MSU, current graduate students and faculty, and are encouraged to apply to MSU for their graduate work.  Adding joint undergraduate research projects to grants will require adding some dollars to the grant’s budget.

Key is to connect with diversity and inclusion partners on each campus, e.g. McNair, Trio, who provide support to students especially during the transition. Note this is a reciprocal relationship; MSU undergrads may find that a great graduate home is at the partner university.

If interested in this R3 initiative, please contact [email protected] and we can discuss pathway schools and connect you with faculty who are already part of the R3 initiative.

R3 Initiative Graph