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The Graduate School at the University of Missouri–Columbia (Mizzou)

History of Preparing Future Faculty

Although many future faculty members are trained at research-extensive universities, 75 percent of faculty positions are at institutions that are typically not involved in doctoral education (e.g., community colleges, liberal arts colleges, comprehensive institutions, etc.).

To address the training of educators bound for non-research-extensive schools, the Council of Graduate Schools, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Pew Charitable Trust and the National Science Foundation established Preparing Future Faculty.

The Preparing Future Faculty initiative at the University of Missouri began in the fall of 2001 and is coordinated by the Graduate School.

General Objectives

  • To increase MU graduate student readiness to assume faculty roles within a wide range of academic and professional contexts.
  • To help graduate students better understand the diversity of expectations and functional realities that exists at different higher education institutions.
  • To facilitate the placement of graduates by developing wider institutional and personal networks and mentoring relationships.
  • To further enhance the graduate student experience at MU by making graduate study even more responsive to and reflective of student, disciplinary and professional needs.