A new way of preparing future college teachers at the University of Colorado at Boulder that is viewed as a national model will be the topic of an all-day conference on Feb. 16.
Top administrators and faculty from nine Colorado colleges and universities will attend the event, including CU President John Buechner and CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny. The Preparing Future Faculty program links doctoral students at CU-Boulder with professors at other Colorado colleges and universities.
The program is aimed at expanding the teaching experiences of aspiring professors by exposing them to more faculty mentors and different types of teaching institutions. The conference is from 8:55 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom on the Boulder campus.
CU-Boulder Graduate Dean Carol Lynch will speak at 9 a.m. on "Changing the Paradigm of Graduate Education," Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Phil DiStefano will speak at 9:15 a.m. on building faculty ties between disciplines and institutions and President Buechner will address how the program fits in with his Total Learning Environment initiative at 9:30 a.m. Chancellor Byyny will speak at 3:30 p.m. on technology and education.
Ten CU-Boulder doctoral candidates began working with faculty mentors in January at Colorado College, Community College of Denver, Colorado School of Mines, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Regis University, Colorado State University and CU-Denver and CU-Colorado Springs.
"This will significantly broaden the doctoral fellows' teaching experiences as well as create a valuable new network among Colorado's post secondary institutions," said Laura Border, director of the CU-Boulder Graduate Teacher Program and the Colorado Preparing Future Faculty Network.
"The goal is to expand the teaching experiences of aspiring professors and expose them to institutions where the majority of teaching jobs are found," said Hoag Holmgren, assistant director of the Graduate Teacher Program. "More jobs are available at liberal arts schools, smaller state schools and community colleges than at major research universities like CU-Boulder."
In a recent review of the Graduate Teacher Program, Professor James Slevin of Georgetown University said it "seems to me the best of its kind in the nation; I have already mentioned it to several other universities I have visited and intend to do so regularly. It is truly a national model that brings honor, as well as prestige, to the University of Colorado."
More than 40 people are scheduled to attend the Feb. 16 conference, including CU graduate students and their faculty mentors. The CU doctoral students are from the departments of applied mathematics, economics, English, French and Italian and political science.
The program is funded by a $60,000 grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.