We have worked toward securing an institutional commitment from the various affected parts of the university. First, PFF activities are now written into the College of Arts & Sciences plan for graduate education. Second, we are working to have the PFF seminars changed from cross-listed courses in the individual departments to courses offered by the Office of Graduate Studies (this is a major change in UNL graduate school culture). Third, we have made or will make presentations to key decision-making bodies—Graduate Council and the Chancellor’s cabinet. Fourth, as we move beyond Arts & Sciences, we will ask other colleges to provide financial support. Finally, because we have just started this fall, we have little UNL data with which to make more vigorous claims to institutionalize PFF resource allocation. As our local PFF program and the national PFF effort produce more empirical data, we can begin to press our case more forcefully.

Increase involvement and participation by faculty and graduate students.

First, department faculty drives the UNL effort. The chairs/graduate chairs of the four participating departments set policy. Second, where appropriate, we have enlisted graduate faculty participation in the PFF seminars. Third, we have had preliminary discussions about adding new departments. Fourth, we are somewhat leery of expanding until we get a solid year of experience under our belt. We are still working through the best form of administration, the best format for our seminars, and the best way to facilitate comfortable relationships with mentors at partner institutions. Finally, the PFF national office could help by sharing the expansion experiences of first-round grantees.

Embed PFF in academic departments.

UNL began by embedding PFF in academic departments. Three departments—Communication Studies, Mathematics and Statistics, and Sociology—began this initiative. It was only after this initial effort that UNL was invited to submit a grant proposal. The chairs/graduate chairs of the affected departments govern the program. The PFF seminar courses are listed under department names. Department faculty members visit the seminar sessions. At our capstone retreat in late spring, we will try to bring a wider range of departmental faculty in contact with the program. One of our present goals is to use what we have already learned from partner institutions in order to change some departmental GTA-training practices.

Establish and maintain institutional partnerships.

We have established relationships with five local partner institutions. First, each of four departments at these five institutions is mentoring a UNL graduate student. We have also established relationships with two distant partners. PFF Fellows will visit those institutions during the spring and summer. Mentors from both distant and local partners have participated in our seminars either in person or via audio-visual links. Second, we are establishing regular communication with partner institutions. Along with Howard Anderson, the UNL PFF director, Ronald Lee, visited each local partner institution and met with administrators and mentors. We are creating e-mail discussion lists for mentors so that can share ideas. We are going to meet with them again in the spring to assess their needs and discuss additional ways UNL can make this a worthwhile experience for them. Third, we are constantly working on firming our relationships with partner institutions. For instance, partner faculty members from relevant disciplines were invited to a recent UNL conference on "Race, Ethnicity, and Public Discourse"; a number of mentors attended. Also, Arts & Sciences is working on some cooperative relationships with a partner institution. This relationship began because the Dean of Arts & Sciences at UNL and the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Nebraska Wesleyan met through PFF. We will be running a workshop on instructional technology and learning outcomes during the spring. We will invite interested partner faculty. Finally, we would appreciate suggestions from other clusters about ways to develop partner institution incentives.

5. Document benefits to students seeking academic careers.

We have just begun our program and, therefore, are just beginning the process of documenting PFF outcomes. However, we can provide some specific examples of benefits. First, one of our PFF Fellows will be interviewed for a faculty position at a partner institution. Second, PFF Fellows have benefited through improved letters of recommendation. We know that some faculty members have changed the nature of their letters. Third, PFF Fellows have altered vitae and dossiers because of the input of mentors. Fourth, PFF Fellows have reported gaining new understanding of various academic missions. They have witnessed new teaching strategies (for example, teaching calculus through discussion) and different student populations (for instance, "developmental" classes in community colleges). This has helped participants determine in which types of institutions they are comfortable. Fifth, we are putting in place procedures and developing instruments to assess outcomes. Finally, sharing of assessment instruments across clusters would be very useful.

We just started the PFF program at UNL in the fall. It will be a year before the first PFF alumnus has secured a faculty appointment. Of course, any data that the PFF national office can share about the success of PFF alumni would be helpful.

Both our PFF director, Ronald Lee, and our PFF graduate coordinator, Loreen Olson, have participated in PFF programs at the National Communication Association meeting in Chicago. UNL received a National Communication Association seed grant to begin Preparing Future Communication Faculty. As of yet, we do not know of any other UNL faculty members speaking at their disciplinary associations. This is not an issue that we have taken up with our advisory committee. We will put it on the agenda for a future meeting. If the national PFF office knows of disciplinary activity in Communication Studies, English, Mathematics and Statistics, or Sociology, then we will pass it on to faculty in those departments and encourage them to participate.

8. Anticipate and prepare for emerging and future faculty roles.

Our first PFF on-campus seminar focused on the 21^st century university. We brought in three specialists from Teacher’s College to discuss trends in higher education. Second, our program is rather unique because it provides mentoring in distance education and special training in instructional technology. In this sense, we hope we have already anticipated new trends. Third, next year, we will spend more time on examining the coming redefinition of scholarship, which focuses on a broader understanding of research beyond the traditional "new knowledge" approach. Fourth, we rely on our partners to tell us about new demands on faculty. As a result, we have put substantial time into discussing assessment with our PFF participants.

9. Reach out and work with diverse students and diverse institutions.

We believe we have done a superior job of diversifying our base of institutions. Our cluster includes two private liberal arts colleges, an urban Jesuit university (Masters II), a large urban comprehensive, and a multi-site, urban community college. The urban schools have the most diverse student bodies in Nebraska. Beyond these local partners, we have two distant partners. The first is Grambling State University, an historically black college, and the second is Chadron State College, a rural western Nebraska institution. Chadron faces the challenge of educating Mexican migrants who have come to work in the Nebraska meatpacking industry. Also, rural colleges have a special need to provide distant education. We have entered preliminary talks with Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a university with a large Hispanic student body, and Howard University, a historically black research institution. We are moving cautiously because each of these efforts requires resources for travel and staff to grapple with difficult logistics.

We have adapted the survey instrument from the PFF national office to the contours of UNL. The survey is now in the hands of the Dean of Graduate Studies. It will be distributed at the beginning of the spring semester.

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