Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the origins of the MOLIS?
2. Why aren't all minority institutions in the United States represented in MOLIS?
3. What defines an institution as a Minority Institution?
4. I'm a faculty member of a MOLIS institution and I noticed that my personnel profile is inaccurate or out of date, how can I make sure the information is corrected?
5. How do I find a MOLIS institution's official home page?
6. How do I find other types of scholarship/fellowship information not included in MOLIS?

1. What are the origins of the MOLIS?

In 1990, FIE developed the Minority On-Line Information System to provide a free, comprehensive research and institutional capabilities database on Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). MOLIS also provides information on current educational and research programs and profiles on over 25,000 faculty members at Minority Institutions (MIs). The extraordinary success of MOLIS is due to the real world value of its institutional data to government and industry and its opportunities data to minority campuses. This effort was funded by a consortium of federal agencies. Currently MOLIS houses comprehensive research and institutional capabilities on over 260 Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority Postsecondary Institutions (MPIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and other MIs. FIE's trained staff visit minority campuses throughout the academic year to train faculty, administrators and students to utilize its on-line system and to gather capabilities data.

2. Why aren't all minority institutions in the United States represented in MOLIS?

Many factors have shaped MOLIS as you see it today. Primary among those is the level and nature of Federal Government funding we receive. Thanks to a grant from DoD we were recently able to add almost all of the Predominantly Black Colleges and Universities and all Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities. Under this grant with DoD we will be adding an additional 150 schools over the next three years. Our vision of the future is one that includes comprehensive minority representation on MOLIS. Non-inclusion of certain Federal Government recognized MIs on MOLIS at this time in no way implies that those MIs are not important, or that they are less in need of representation. We are working on collecting the information from more minority institutions to provide their information on-line. We encourage participating MIs to submit current information on their institutions to the MOLIS team as soon as it becomes available. We also encourage and welcome any and all feedback (info@iam-molis.org) from users of the MOLIS system.

3. What defines an institution as a Minority Institution?

The U.S. Department of Education can only classify an institution as a Minority Institution. Identification of minority institutions by OCR pursuant to 1135d-5(3), Education Amendments of 1986 to the Higher Education Act of 1965. The 2000 United States Department of Education U.S. Accredited Postsecondary Minority Institutions list can be found at: List of HBCU/MSIs.

4. I'm a faculty member of a MOLIS institution and I noticed that my personnel profile is inaccurate or out of date, how can I make sure the information is corrected?

Faculty members and administrators can keep their data current by using the On-Line Research Information System (ORIS). This web application allows individual faculty members (or the Sponsored Research liason)to log on to MOLIS and make any necessary changes to their faculty's profiles. The system is password protected and safe to use. For information concerning ORIS, please call us at (301) 637-2220.

5. How do I find a MOLIS institution's official home page?

Homepages for the MIs can be found in the "Minority Institution Information" section of MOLIS under "Other Minority Institution Information" and can be accessed by selecting the "Links to Minority Institution Homepages" link. The URLs (Universal Resource Locators) can also be found at the main page (Minority Institution Data) of each MI.

6. How do I find other types of scholarship/fellowship information not included in MOLIS?

For more information on scholarships/fellowships available to ALL students contact:

NOTE: We welcome and encourage your comments and questions. So that we can provide you with complete and accurate assistance, please be as specific as possible when submitting questions. Thank you for your interest in MOLIS.