Preparing Future Faculty Program

The Preparing Future Faculty Program was developed as a partnership between the Graduate School and the Center for Teaching Excellence, a university center founded to promote and encourage a culture of excellence in teaching at VCU, as well as provide graduate students with opportunities for professional development and training. The program offers a series of short courses and professional development opportunities for graduate students interested in pursuing careers in higher education. The series is modeled on the national Preparing Future Faculty Program created by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

PFF courses introduce graduate students to the roles and responsibilities of higher education, address teaching and learning issues in the college classroom and provide supervised internship opportunities. The program offers access to resources and activities of the Center for Teaching Excellence and service-learning experiences through the Division of Community Engagement while providing networking opportunities with students and faculty from a wide range of disciplines, as well as discipline-specific areas of study. Since most courses are one credit, students are able to add them easily to their academic program schedules.

PFF courses may be taken individually or as part of the Preparing Future Faculty in the Professions module, which provides a special emphasis on preparing faculty for positions in professional schools. At the successful completion of the required courses, students will be awarded a PFF certificate of achievement.

The PFF Program examines the question, what does it really mean to be faculty?

For questions regarding the PFF program, contact the office:

Preparing Future Faculty Program
Virginia Commonwealth University
Graduate School
1001 Grove Avenue
P.O. Box 843051
Richmond, Virginia 23284-3051
E-mail: pffprogram@vcu.edu