The AHA invites proposals for a new program—Shaping the Preparation of Future Social Science and Humanities Faculty—launched by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), which have received a private gift for this purpose. The program addresses the doctoral preparation of future faculty in the social sciences and the humanities. CGS and AAC&U will direct the highly collaborative project, coordinating the work of six social science and humanities disciplinary associations involved with the initiative—the American Historical Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association, the National Communication Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English.

The initiative builds on and extends the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program that CGS and AAC&U have led since 1993 with support from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Science Foundation.

The new program brings research universities, the "producers" of PhDs, and colleges and universities, the "consumers" who hire PhDs, into partnership. The partners will offer faculty preparation that highlights the broad mission of undergraduate education and the diverse needs and characteristics of students entering the academy. Doctoral degree-granting departments will form partnerships with similar academic departments in institutions ranging from community colleges to comprehensive universities to create departmental clusters as learning laboratories to train graduate students in the broad range of faculty responsibilities.

Each professional society involved in the project—including the AHA—will select at least four doctoral degree-granting departments to receive grants of $10,000 a year for two years. Over a two-year period, the departments will create innovative faculty preparation programs based on Preparing Future Faculty concepts. Throughout the implementation of the new programs, the societies and higher education organizations will disseminate their findings to their constituencies and promote new thinking about the professional development of future faculty.

The proposals from departments must be received by the AHA on or before March 24, 2000. Questions may be addressed to Noralee Frankel at nfrankel@historians.org. For details about the project, please visit the AHA web page or the PFF web site at http://www.preparing-faculty.org.