There are various ways to succeed in recruiting and retaining underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral students; but key to them all is the creation of real student-faculty relationships, which demonstrate by example that diversity and excellence can and should coexist. This cannot be delegated or done indirectly, and no amount of outreach, campus visits, or diversity awareness activities--however well-intentioned--can achieve the effect of positive examples. In this article, the author discusses how the recruitment and retaining of underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral students at Duke University's BME doctoral program became a success. Through a combination of graduate school, Duke endowment, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) training grant funds contributed to the success of the graduate program. This success could not have been accomplished by an administrator or a staff person alone. It had instead to be advocated at the departmental level by a faculty member with (1) successful and productive URM students in his or her own lab, (2) a vigorous research profile, (3) the respect of the other BME faculty, and (4) control over resources for supporting URM students. Here, the author suggested that majority faculty members need to step forward and enthusiastically mentor minority students, and minority students need to be openly receptive to the mentor-ship offered by majority faculty. The more people see working examples, the more likely it becomes that URM recruitment and retention will succeed.