FIU-RCMI Administrative Core Abstract The Administrative Core is designed to maximize the rigor, significance, innovation, collaboration, and productivity of our proposed Center's research, training, and community endeavors, and will provide essential infrastructure for: (a) establishing a nurturing culture for creating a community of health disparities scholarship focused on the growth of early stage investigators (ESIs) and community-partnerships; (b) cross-component collaboration within our Center; (c) intra- and inter-institutional collaboration and support; (d) a point of entry for community-university partnered research and resources; and (e) working with NIMHD and the RCMI Coordinating Center. Through the Administrative Core, Center leaders will come together to implement the Center's plan and harmonize our efforts, track and evaluate our progress and outcomes, and seek and follow the wisdom of our Advisory Committee and Community Advisory Board (CAB) to achieve optimum efficiency and results. The Administrative Core will lead the proposed Center's efforts in: (a) building upon our achievements during our initial funding cycle; (b) broadening our scope in regard to minority health and health disparities research; (c) refining our approach to ESI mentoring; (d) expanding our research partnerships with underserved and vulnerable communities; and (e) bolstering our approach to faculty recruitment. The Administrative Core's programmatic activities will include cross-trainings, joint events, and incentives for involvement in health disparities research work, in collaboration with the Investigator Development and Research Capacity Cores, and facilitated by collaborative connections in the community through the Community Engagement Core, which oversees our CAB. The Administrative Core also will provide oversight and support for our three R01-equivalent studies, and have a significant role in working with the Recruitment Core in faculty search, screen, and hiring processes. Moreover, the Administrative Core will be home to our Evaluation Team, who are founding members of the RCMI Evaluators' Workgroup and co-authors of the RCMI Evaluation Conceptual Model (RCMI-ECM). Evaluation will be guided by our Center's Logic Model and the RCMI-ECM, with metrics including number of: peer-reviewed publications; peer-reviewed conference presentations; postdoctoral trainees; ESIs; investigator-focused research workshops, seminars, and trainings; community-focused workshops, seminars, and trainings; and, external grant applications. We also will evaluate mentorship quality and satisfaction among ESIs, and will participate in the RCMI Coordinating Center's assessments, and the