The logo was inspired by a trip across rural Kansas, where clusters of trees protect each other and protect the soil from wind and erosion. In this scene, captured by photographer Mike Kennedy, Associate Dean for Rural Health Education at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, the tree clusters have organically emerged and form a network across the larger landscape.

The RTT Collaborative is represented as organic and living:

  • Trees represent strength and resilience
  • Green conveys sustainability, rural places
  • Shades of green stand for variability, diversity
  • Separate trunks convey the idea that each program can stand on it’s own, yet in a grove, stand together
  • The curved root demonstrates rootedness in rural communities, and in a community of practice in health professions education and training
  • All are undergirded by common ground and important longitudinal relationships

Growing our own…together, suggests a convergence of the best in rural autonomy and collaboration, doing together what we cannot accomplish separately on our own. The byline in the middle was added to include health professions education and training of all types and at all stages, including undergraduate education and postgraduate training.