PROGRAM PURPOSE

Three general purposes guide the University of Nebraska’s Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) project:

  1. To improve UNL doctoral students’ readiness to assume faculty roles in a diverse set of academic institutions.
  2. To acquire a better understanding of faculty expectations at different types of institutions and, then, to act on this new understanding to improve UNL graduate education.
  3. To enhance placement of UNL graduates by fostering a better fit between graduate student goals and eventual academic employment.

Five specific purposes guide the UNL’s PFF project:

  1. The PFF program at UNL should provide doctoral students with personal experiences at the diverse kinds of academic institutions that may become their professional homes. This program should have a formal structure that permits students to have an orderly, continuous, and thoughtfully planned series of experiences.
  2. The PFF program at UNL should provide graduate students with a clearer understanding of the qualifications specific kinds of academic institutions are seeking in new faculty. More particularly, graduate students should have a clearer understanding of how to obtain and document such qualifications.
  3. The PFF program at UNL should provide graduate students with a clearer understanding of the tenure and promotion requirements at specific types of academic institutions. More particularly, graduate students should be better prepared to meet those requirements upon appointment to a college faculty.
  4. The PFF program at UNL should enrich departments’ GTA orientation and training programs. In other words, what we learn from partner institutions should alter the way we train our graduate teaching assistants. Moreover, these experiences may well also influence choices in student coursework because we should develop a clearer idea of what is useful in academic preparation.
  5. The PFF program at UNL should provide a forum for discussing the changing nature of the professoriate. The year-long future faculty seminar, run as part of PFF, will provide a place for graduate students to read and hear experts who have spent time reflecting on new challenges to higher education. These topics will include assessment, instructional technology, distance education, and diversity.

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