By Irene Hsiao When graduate students Cody Hernandez, Christina Roman, and Mathew Perez-Neut founded the Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT) in 2016, they touched off a coordinated movement that has transformed how the University of Chicago recruits, supports, and retains underrepresented students in the Biological Sciences Division. In just over two years, GRIT has grown from three members to more than seventy, with a network of students and faculty allies working together to raise awareness, forge connections, and build resources for current and prospective students, with a special focus on four subareas: underrepresented minorities, womxn, LGBTQ+, and students with disabilities. Their unprecedented community-building approach has shown dramatic and measurable results in the recruitment of minority students, and as of summer 2018 the organization is expanding to the Physical Sciences Division and beyond.
Hernandez, Perez-Neut, and Roman initially met during IMSD (Initiative for Maximizing Student Development) summer rotations before the start of their first year of graduate work at UChicago. As second-years, they banded together to expand the UChicago chapter of SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science). This experience and their conversations with other minority students unveiled a diverse population with shared experiences and challenges, leading them to the idea of creating a student-steered grass roots program that could effectively advocate for minorities on campus—with a mission that included not only recruiting minorities but training them and other students to actively contribute to the organization. During the SACNAS national meeting that year, they decided to try their hand at recruiting, with a simple question in mind: “Can we affect this process?” The outcome was definitively positive, and GRIT was launched.
Their perspective as scientists has been key to their ability to obtain results—specifically the observation and analysis of data. “We used a data-driven approach to show what was wrong with recruitment,” recalls Hernandez. By looking at how preconceptions about minority students were reflected in real recruitment figures, they were able to open a dialogue with faculty and administrators in the shared language of numbers, data, and facts—often in private, one-on-one meetings with faculty. “Our goal was to have conversations, present data, and allow people to react in their own way on their own time,” says Hernandez, noting that those who initially resisted sometimes became the group’s biggest advocates. “Providing people with the opportunity to learn and follow through with what they’ve learned has been an effective way to communicate.”
Such an approach has been essential to developing a shared vision, explains Perez-Neut. “We both examine the data, we both come to the same conclusion, and that brings us closer together to solve the problem.” True to the experimental nature of the venture, GRIT keeps meticulous records of their results, reporting an active role in the recruitment of 40% of the underrepresented students who matriculated in the BSD in 2017, a number that grew to 80% in 2018. 
The road to successful outcomes has not been without substantial challenges. “The three of us have often landed in ‘hot’ positions,” says Perez-Neut. “One of the things that allowed us to do this was Nancy Schwartz’s mentorship and support.” Professor Schwartz, who directs the Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) and IMSD, advised the GRIT founders, facilitated dialogues with faculty and university administrators, and continues to apply for funding mechanisms to support GRIT. Emily Easton, former PSD Associate Dean of Students and current Associate Director of Graduate Administrative Services at UChicagoGRAD, was also a strong supporter, helping them create annual plans of action, critiquing their ideas, and refining their organizational structure. Roman says, “Emily’s organization and ability to focus on specific areas was outstanding.” 
Easton was also key to GRIT’s expansion to the PSD, where she enlisted fifth-year Chemistry graduate student Rebecca Thompson, who had previously served as department ombudsperson and president of Women in Chemistry, to act as the PSD liaison to GRIT. “Emily was the driving force behind acquiring funding for this first year and deciding what to do with it, so we could recruit and report on it this first year and then propagate outwards,” says Thompson. With third-year Jacob Higgins, they organized the first cohort of GRIT members in the PSD in Fall 2018, joining the GRIT members from the BSD at SACNAS in October for recruitment and cohosting multiple events, including the Big Gay Barbecue on campus, which was equally attended by students from both divisions. “We really value learning from the guidance and experience of the GRIT leadership team,” she says. “They’ve seen tremendous growth. Leveraging the things they’ve found to be successful seems like our best bet.” With training from GRIT, she and Higgins introduced the organization and secured pledges from faculty in the Department of Chemistry to support their efforts. “A lot of our retention events are for everyone—for example, the candid conversations we organized for first-years to talk with more advanced graduate students about work-life balance and mental health. I’m really excited about the community we’re building in the Chemistry Department,” she says. “GRIT is a good place to make sure that the conversation stays intersectional,” adds Higgins. 
In addition to GRIT’s new presence in the PSD, the organization is becoming a national movement. Hernandez and Perez-Neut recently offered a workshop at the University of Virginia, where a new GRIT chapter is growing—along with others at MIT, the University of San Francisco, and the University of Michigan. “I’m excited to see it expand nationwide,” says Perez-Neut. “I envision this being the premier model for universities to promote diversity and equity in science.” “It’s important to give people the resources they need to feel comfortable having this conversation and provide the resources and the language to be a good ally,” says Hernandez. “We’re all in this and learning together.”
At UChicago, GRIT continues to grow and develop as new leadership, co-directed by graduate students Selina Baeza-Loya and Linsin Smith, took the helm in 2018. With every department in the BSD now represented in GRIT, the new leadership team looks upon GRIT’s expansion with excitement. “The outpouring of support and energy from our PSD members has been phenomenal, and we've enjoyed learning from and working with them to implement GRIT programming in their respective departments,” says Baeza-Loya. “To ensure that marginalized scientists recruited to UChicago excel in this environment, a huge part of GRIT’s work is promoting a supportive graduate student community and inclusive climate at UChicago.” This year, GRIT’s events have included an LGTBQ+ seminar featuring a nonbinary scientist, womxn in science book clubs, URM journal clubs, monthly mental health and wellness events, and a post-midterm check-in for first-year graduate students. “All this work has only been possible because of our excellent members,” she says. 
“As someone who thought I couldn’t run an organization before GRIT and SACNAS, I like being able to ignite that in someone else and train another group of leaders,” says Roman. “I’m excited about how big their goals are getting. They keep pushing the boundary of what they’re doing next. The womxn’s branch put on two events last year—this year they’re doing a whole conference, and it’s already almost entirely funded. The URM team is doing radical work to bring together the black students at the University. The bar keeps getting raised, and I have nothing to do with it, and that makes me feel very excited.”
“If you talk to minority students, one thing stands out: resilience—knowing you have the ability to jump through hoops just to be here and that many had to help you just to get here,” says Hernandez. “I’m just happy to have the opportunity. I—and many colleagues—have worked multiple jobs, paid for college, and had to do well in our classes. Now we have just one job, to do science. It’s hard to imagine that people who have lived that path and now have support are not going to be extremely successful.”
“I’ve recruited several students from meeting at a conference to reviewing applications, providing feedback, hosting during interviews, and mentoring over the summer, and it’s amazing to see the change in perspective of first-year students because of the empowered students who have changed the culture,” says Hernandez. “People feel they can raise issues and talk about them with faculty. I want to empower a new generation of graduate students to be better and do more and pay forward opportunities they’ve been given.” The shifts are palpable among the faculty as well as the students. “What equity means for marginalized groups has become something that people are starting to think about,” he says. “I’ve heard faculty use the terms ‘equity and justice’ instead of ‘diversity and inclusion,’” adds Roman. “People are starting to ask, ‘Is this fair? Is this just? Is this right?’”