Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/65032

JaLCDOI : 10.14943/J.HighEdu.24.107

The Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) Initiative (1993-2002) is a project made possible through the partnership of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). PFF is a training seminar for graduate students who desire to become professors. The initiative aims to develop useful models for PFF and to disseminate those models nationwide. The author conducted research on the experimental programs of four sociology departments, which were funded by the PFF Initiative in cooperation with the American Sociological Association (ASA). Only two sociology departments had active PFF programs; however, all four graduate schools had components of PFF programs in their curricula and graduation requirements. The PFF Initiative has succeeded in transforming the culture of graduate training. However, several problems have been identified with regard to faculty members. The primary goal for a junior professor is to earn tenure and a promotion. However, participating as partner faculty members in a PFF program may decrease junior professorsʼ research time and keep them from achieving their goals. Because the place of PFF in the professorship is unclear, it is sometimes considered to be a pro bono service activity in which only professors with little interest in aʠgenuineʡprofessorship participate. Using Burawoyʼs (2002) model of public sociology, Pescosolid (2008) redefined the professorship and identified PFF as one of the core roles of scholarship and of teaching. His thesis offered strong support for the promotion of PFF.