ADMINISTRATIVE CORE ABSTRACT The Administrative Core for our SDSU/UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership will provide oversight of the administrative and financial functions and the personnel and other resources to support the Partnership’s day-to-day operations. This includes providing leadership, oversight, and infrastructure to support all scientific, administrative, and fiscal activities of the Partnership to ensure effective and synergistic performance. The leadership of the Administrative Core is crucial to achieving the goals of collaboration within the Partnership. The organizational structure is made up of an Executive Committee (EC), an Internal Advisory Committee (IAC), a Program Steering Committee (PSC), the SDSU and UCSD institutional leadership, as well as faculty, students, and community partners participating through the various Cores and Programs. The EC is comprised of the four PIs, two from each institution. Administrative and scientific leadership is conducted in a collaborative, integrative manner across SDSU and UCSD and takes into account the advice of the IAC and PSC. In the next phase of the Partnership, the Administrative Core will continue to oversee the ongoing coordination and provide administrative support to all the Cores and Projects of the Partnership. The Core will also provide support to foster effective interactions and collaborations amongst SDSU and UCSD investigators, staff, students, advisory committee members, and community members. Specifically, the Core will be responsible for: 1) Convening, coordinating and conducting all meetings, as well as providing agendas and minutes; 2) Facilitating communication between all institutional departments, including with the leadership at both institutions; 3) Providing administrative support and monitoring the progress of all Cores; 4) Working with the Planning and Evaluation Core to solicit, review and select pilot and full projects, as well as monitoring their progress; 5) Encouraging and supporting active participation of SDSU and UCSD faculty and students in Partnership activities; 6) Preparing progress reports for internal and external evaluation, renewals, and summaries; 7) Providing fiscal management; and 8) Organizing and disseminating information to the Partnership community. The Partnership uses the multiple PI model for governance and leadership and the Contact PIs represent and reinforce university commitments. The application proposes to recruit two new faculty at UCSD and two at SDSU. Recruitment efforts at UCSD will be targeted specifically to translational scientists in cancer disparities. At SDSU, the faculty recruits will increase the capacity for cancer research in basic sciences. The new positions will be aligned with the future needs and priorities of the Partnership. If the new recruit is an early stage investigator (ESI), the Partnership and leading institutions are committed to providing support to ensure the future success of this individual, through existing institutional support to support ESIs and activities in the Research Education Core.