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Howard University hosts an NSF-funding Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Program (AGEP) program to assist Ph.D. students from underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines to complete their degrees in a timely fashion and to prepare them for entry into the professoriate. All AGEP-funded students at Howard University who have completed 30 credits of graduate coursework are required to make a two-year commitment to participate in Howard’s Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program. The goal of this initiative is to prepare these future STEM faculty in all aspects of academic professional responsibilities and life: research, teaching, advising etc.

The PFF Program consists of several key components, including two required courses (Seminar in College Teaching & Teaching in the Online Environment); seminars and workshops; and one visitation to another institution each semester. Howard University predoctoral PFF scholars also have opportunities to spend up to a year having a supervised teaching experience at other universities across the country. A sample of the institutions that have partnered with Howard on this program include: Hope College- Holland, Michigan; University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI; DePauw University- Greencastle, IN; The Pennsylvania State University- University Park, PA; George Mason University- Fairfax, VA; James Madison University- Harrisonburg, VA; and Northwestern University- Evanston, IL.

As a result of the participation of 36 AGEP-funded fellows over the past five years, all STEM Departments (with the exception of those in Engineering) now require all Ph.D. students to have a teaching experience; a Memorandum of Understanding with Northwestern University was developed specifically to provide teaching experiences for students in Engineering. Howard is currently elaborating a PFF program specifically for STEM graduate students with emphasis on techniques for teaching in the sciences; application of technology in scientific instruction; and assessment within the scientific environment (laboratories, etc.).

Significant challenges have arisen in changing the orientation in the culture of the STEM disciplines and convincing laboratory mentors that activities other than research have value. Other challenges have included demonstrating an integration between one’s research and teaching; extending the collaborative practices of laboratory research to include interdisciplinary course projects and service to undergraduate students; and making interdisciplinarity a part of the institutional mission.