A. Clifford Barger Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award

The A. Clifford Barger Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award honors a member of the American Physiological Society (APS) who is judged to have demonstrated leadership, guidance and mentorship of underrepresented minority (URM) and diverse groups of students in the physiological sciences. The American Physiological Society’s awards and programs specific to underrepresented minority and diverse groups has governing criteria defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH defines URM status in the institutes Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity, which can be found here. Additional underrepresented minority group definitions can be found on the National Institutes of Health Diversity of Extramural Programs webpage. 

The Barger Award promotes and embodies the APS goal of broad diversity among physiologists by recognizing outstanding mentors who make significant impacts on diversity in physiology. It recognizes mentoring as a high-valued professional activity that merits a high-level award by the Society. The purpose of the award is not to promote URM physiologists per se, but to recognize individuals who mentor URM trainees and physiologists. The awardee is required to attend the American Physiology Summit to receive the award and participate in APS events. 

The award will be presented annually. The award promotes diversity in three ways:

1. Raises the visibility of researchers who mentor students from diverse backgrounds;
2. Stimulates the support and development of URM students engaged in graduate study of physiology; and
3. Shares the specific strategies used to promote diversity in the awardee's laboratories, departments, institutions, schools, etc.

The award recipient receives:

• a $1,000 honorarium;
• up to $1,500 in reimbursement of travel expenses related to the American Physiology Summit;
• early registration registration reimbursement to the American Physiology Summit; and
• a commemorative plaque.

The Barger award recipient will be selected from applicants nominated by APS members in good standing. It is anticipated, but not required, that applicants are nominated by one of their protégés/mentees. Self-nominations are not allowed.

The nomination packet should be submitted online by the nominator. The award is open to all regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship or professional rank. To be eligible for an award, the nominee must:

1. Be an APS member in good standing for at least two (2) consecutive years at the time of application.
2. Be a full-time, permanent faculty or staff member at a US institution. They do not have to be tenured.
3. Have served as an outstanding role model in promoting diversity and inclusion of underrepresented minority and diverse groups to become involved and remain in the field of physiological sciences. This may be evidenced by mentoring impacts on students and/or research outcomes for mentees.
4. Have demonstrated continued commitment to the career goals and professional development of their mentee(s). This may be evidenced by:
   • Providing life coaching (supporting career/life balance issues, encouragement and strategies for challenges as a member of an underrepresented minority of diverse group)
   • Providing continued interest in the individual’s professional development through personal advising/coaching and counseling
5. Have demonstrated success of leadership in their given field; this may include, for example, scholarly productivity and/or funding, managing and/or directing diversity programs, and/or teaching and mentoring trainees (graduate students and postdocs) engaged in research, etc.

Note: Preference will be given to those who have not won other APS mentoring awards.

1. A complete application form;
2. A nomination letter summarizing the actions that form the basis for the nomination;
3. The candidate’s biosketch;
4. A list of past and current mentees from underrepresented minority and diverse groups, including scholars’ outcome; and
5. Letters of support representative of the various ways in which the applicant has demonstrated effort, results and commitment.

The extraordinary commitment of the nominee will be demonstrated by:

• dedication and commitment to excellence in training/mentoring of a diverse group of physiologists at graduate, postdoctoral and/or junior faculty levels;
• preparing students students who belong to minority and/or diverse groups to be contributors to the field of physiology;
• career guidance and continued interest in the professional advancement of mentees;
• outreach to the community to recruit and retain young physiologists who belong to minority and/or diverse groups; and  
• continued efforts to seek funding to support recruitment, training and retention of underrepresented minority and diverse groups of trainees.

Download complete guidelines (PDF):

• Barger Award Eligibility Selection
• Barger Nomination Package Information