The Graduate School
Preparing Future Faculty
Program Description and Objectives
Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) is a national initiative to develop model programs that better prepare those graduate students interested in an academic career. PFF programs are designed to include an emphasis on the roles of teaching and service, in addition to the traditional role of training research scholars. The project was jointly sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Council of Graduate Schools, and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Seventeen "institutional clusters" comprised the original PFF program. Examples of other schools participating are: Arizona State University, City University of New York Graduate School and University Center, Duke University, Howard University, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, and The University of Texas at Austin.
The PFF project gives graduate students, faculty, and administrators from research universities the opportunity to work with local institutional "partners" that primarily serve undergraduates, such as liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and comprehensive universities. These local partnerships offer graduate students the chance to observe and participate in carrying out responsibilities such as teaching and advising, curriculum development, and departmental and committee service which will form the core of their responsibilities as new faculty members. Through a variety of activities, PFF enables graduate students to gain first-hand experience observing and teaching at various types of colleges with diverse kinds of students.
Although receiving one of the smaller grants ($10,000) in 1995, The University of Texas consortium has become one of the most successful PFF programs in the country. Five partner institutions comprise the University of Texas cluster: Austin Community College, Huston-Tillotson University, St. Edward's University, Texas State University and Southwestern University.
Building upon the success of the PFF program, whose original focus was on teaching, the Office of Graduate Studies has developed a full-service Professional Development and Community Engagement Program. The goal of the program is to help graduate students from all disciplines to become confident and competent academics who can succeed in the academy, the public sector, or private industry. The Graduate School is committed to doing everything possible to make sure that those who receive a doctorate from UT not only acquire the discipline-specific credentials (i.e., subject matter proficiency and research methodology competence) to lead productive academic and professional lives, but have the requisite writing, communication, pedagogical and other skills to become articulate and productive members of their community. We invite you to enroll and participate in any of the professional development courses and events regularly offered by the Graduate School.
If you are a UT graduate student contemplating an academic career, please read these pages -- including the testimonials offered by previous PFF students. The Office of Graduate Studies invites you to participate in scheduled PFF activities and events. For your convenience, we have made it possible to sign-up electronically for any of the PFF activities.
Thomas
Darwin
Director
Professional Development and Community Engagement
Program