The Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service model offers academic health centers methodologies for community engagement that can address the social determinants of disease. The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center developed Health Extension Rural Offi ces (HEROs) as a vehicle for its model of health extension. Health extension agents are located in rural communities across the state and are supported by regional coordinators and the Offi ce of the Vice President for Community Health at the Health Sciences Center. The role of agents is to work with different sectors of the community in identifying high-priority health needs and linking those needs with university resources in education, clinical service and research. Community needs, interventions, and outcomes are monitored by county health report cards. The Health Sciences Center is a large and varied resource, the breadth and accessibility of which are mostly unknown to communities. Community health needs vary, and agents are able to tap into an array of existing health center resources to address those needs. Agents serve a broader purpose beyond immediate, strictly medical needs by addressing underlying social determinants of disease, such as school retention, food insecurity, and local economic development. Developing local capacity to address local needs has become an overriding concern. Communitybased health extension agents can effectively bridge those needs with academic health center resources and extend those resources to address the underlying social determinants of disease.

Graduates of UNM's family medicine residency have contributed significantly to the state's rural health workforce. Ethnic minority status, graduation from New Mexico's medical school, and training in one of the three rurally based residencies favored in-state and rural retention, while gender had no significant effect. The rural orientation of the residencies offered rural communities economic benefits.

The purpose of this research is to deepen the understanding of DEI training and show how scholars across the nation incorporated DEI leadership into academic roles. Faculty and administrators' experiential experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plays a role in the success or failure of DEI training. DEI training at institutes of higher learning should include metrics that examine our bias for invisible and overt support for DEI. Methods: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars (RWJFNFS) were surveyed by The Gauda Group at Grayling. Data were collected from a diverse group of scholars across the nation. An online survey followed by an in-depth phone interview was used to assess participants' roles as leaders in academic nursing, challenges faced by scholars in addressing DEI, and perceived values of undertaking DEI activities. Results: Major themes emerged from the findings. The themes included championing for DEI comes with a personal and professional risk. Greater success was noted when DEI was supported by leadership and included in institutional strategic planning. Conclusion: DEI is important and necessitates commitment from all levels of leadership, faculty, and strategic planning initiatives. DEI training fills an important role and subsidizes leadership effectiveness as it relates to DEI.