Preparing Future Engineering Faculty: Influences of a Professional Development Seminar on Doctoral Students' Understanding of Faculty Work

摘要

Systematic, thorough preparation of doctoral students in graduate school for academic careers in engineering increases the likelihood of their future successes in professoriate roles. Doctoral education has therefore been undergoing curricular changes to complement students' traditional disciplinary preparations with interventions that raise student awareness of expectations of faculty members in engineering and offer opportunities to address these expectations while still in graduate school. Examples of curricular activities include department or college level seminars and institution or multi-institution level professional development programs. Intent of curricular activities has ranged across preparation for research, teaching, and/or service. However, in-depth evaluations about how such curricular activities influence students' preparation for academic careers in engineering are still sparse. This exploratory study examined influences of one curricular activity - a professional development seminar - on students' understanding of faculty work, to provide evidence for the seminar's effectiveness on students' preparation for academic careers in engineering.