About GRIT

The Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT) began as a grassroots student organization and has grown to encompass 18 graduate programs in the Biological Sciences Division (BSD), Physical Sciences Division (PSD), Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME), Department of Psychology, and Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of Chicago with over 50 members and a dedicated faculty counterpart in the form of the Diversity Council. GRIT is committed to enhancing diversity, inclusion, and equity across these graduate programs. GRIT focuses on three central components: recruitmentretention, and sustainability in order to increase the recruitment and retention of students from marginalized backgrounds. Recruitment is organized by clusters/departments for graduate programs while Retention is organized by five teams devoted towards specific groups.

Information regarding the programs and groups that GRIT works with can be found at Who We Support and leadership of these groups can be found on the Leadership page. Outreach programs associated with the university can be found on the Outreach Page. More information for prospective students can be found on the Prospective Students page. Lastly, information on how to get involved with GRIT as a current graduate student at the University of Chicago can be found on the Get Involved page!

If you’re interested in learning more than what’s available on this website, contact the team at ucgrit@gmail.com with any more questions!

 

Recent Events

November 15th-18th: GRIT representatives will be at Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) from November 15th to November 18th! Keep an eye out for the following students and their schedules, and feel free to reach out to any of them about more questions regarding the university and its programs!

November 5th- GRIT under-represented minority (URM) team trip to the National Museum of Mexican Art in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago

October 26th-28th: Come by our “table” at SACNAS, October 26th-28th, to meet our GRIT representatives and learn more about applying and being a student at the University of Chicago!

Cody Hernandez (left) and Mat Perez-Neut (right) are working to expand the GRIT initiative to other institutions.

 

GRIT co-founder Christina Roman, PhD, meets with faculty advisor Nancy Schwartz, PhD, dean and director of postdoctoral affairs.