The overarching aim of the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity, or CAIRHE, is to position itself as the state and regional leader in multidisciplinary health equity research and to increase the number of Center investigators achieving independent status. The PD/PI and support staff of the Administrative Core will execute the Organization and Management Plan to provide administrative and fiscal leadership of the research center at Montana State University, drawing on counsel from the Advisory Committee (AC) and Internal Mentor Council. On a wider scale, the Core will provide leadership statewide and across the region in Indigenous and rural health equity through collaborative research and educational partnerships. Internal evaluation will focus on key benchmark questions and indicators related to the Pilot Projects Program and its faculty mentoring; the career development of faculty investigators under the Career Guidance Plan; progress toward sustainability of the Montana IDeA Community Engagement Core (CEC) and the Translational Biomarkers Core; and the Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP). The Center will continue its successful Pilot Projects Program to increase the number and capacity of health equity researchers at MSU. With oversight by the PD/PI, in addition to the AC and the Internal Mentor Council, the Career Guidance Plan involves both individual and team mentoring of these early-career investigators. The Core also will provide fiscal management for the project leaders and external grant development services necessary for their career development and their transition to, and attainment of, independent researcher status. The Administrative Core will work closely with the CEC to develop and sustain collaboration with partners belonging to the Center’s innovative Health Equity Network. One particular focus of COBRE Phase III will be to leverage the Health Equity Network for the dissemination and implementation of successful partnership-driven research outcomes among communities in need across the state and region. Finally, the Core will enhance the Center’s Sustainability Plan to guide CAIRHE in the transition from COBRE funding to other competitive grant support during COBRE Phase III and beyond. Upon achieving its Aims by the completion of Phase III, the Administrative Core will have further established a highly visible and effective collaborative, multidisciplinary center—with sustainable cores— focused on health equity research. Through the successful execution of CAIRHE’s Career Guidance Plan and Sustainability Plan, a growing number of independent investigators within the Center will position CAIRHE for success beyond COBRE Phase III as an institutionalized center that is a permanent contributor to the biomedical research capacity at Montana State University.