Historically black and majority-white universities

This paper details a cooperative sisterhood minority recruitment and retention agreement that was established between a predominantly White university and a historically Black university for the purpose of increasing the numbers of minority personnel in speech-language pathology and audiology. This paper also provides some suggestions for universities that may wish to implement a similar model. The program is still in its infancy. It is too early to determine how well a sisterhood agreement is able to provide a bridge of financial, academic, and emotional support to enable minority students to be successful. With continued experience with our new sisterhood relationship, we will be able to evaluate the program, make changes to improve it, and eventually determine whether or not the program is meeting the purpose for which it was designed. Faculty from both universities also look forward to collaborating on research projects and other scholarly activities. In the meantime, however, given the shortage of minority personnel in our profession, it seemed appropriate to offer the sisterhood concept as one means by which universities can help alleviate this critical problem.