Enrich Your Experience
Preparing Future Faculty and Scholars Program
The Preparing Future Faculty and Scholars program helps graduate students and postdocs explore careers in and outside of academia, build career readiness confidence, consider the value and future of higher education, and critically engage with an interdisciplinary group of peers and mentors through seminars, workshops, events and other opportunities.
PFx enabled me to think critically about my values, interests and skills so that I could confidently explore and pursue the jobs that best align with them.
Mark Huerta, Engineering Education Systems and Design
Lunch and Learns
The Preparing Future Faculty and Scholars Lunch and Learn webinars helps graduate students and postdocs explore careers in and outside of academia, and build career readiness confidence. Attendance is free, but registration is required to obtain the Zoom link for each session.
Professional development and non-faculty career planning sessions
Faculty-track career planning sessions:
Crafting your Career Plan 8.30.24
Writing Teaching Statements 9.13.24
Writing Research Statements 10.11.24
Writing Cover Letters 10.25.2024
Pitching your Research 11.11.24
Reviewing Offer Letters 11.22.24
Landscape of U.S. Higher Education Institutions 4.24.25
Finding your Academic Institution Fit 5.8.25
GRD 791 Seminar
Fall 2025 Seminar: GRD 791 Preparing Future Faculty
The Fall 2025 GRD 791 Preparing Future Faculty course will be focused entirely on the search and application for faculty-track positions. Students enrolled in this 1-credit hour course will have a broad overview of the application process and focused time to develop and refine your academic job packet.
The course will meet every Friday on Tempe campus from 11:15-12:05 p.m.
The PFx seminar is open to ASU MFA and doctoral students who have completed their coursework and to ASU postdoctoral fellows. Due to the career-focus of the course, it is not intended for students still completing course requirements or completing non-terminal degrees.
Register in GRD 791 (class number 74169)
We looked at the structure of the University in ways that were not typical of graduate students. In this, I gained an understanding of high-level university issues.
Sean Moxley-Kelly, English, Writing, Rhetoric and Literacies
The PFx seminar is open to ASU MFA and doctoral students who have completed their coursework and to ASU postdoctoral scholars. Due to the career-focus of the course it is not intended for students still completing course requirements or completing non-terminal degrees.
Most students will find the demands of the seminars to be reasonable with a moderate amount of time spent on assignments. Activities completed through PFx help to prepare students for successful career pathways.
Students who have completed the PFx seminars have reported that participation provided them with an edge in applying for and securing competitive positions, as well as giving them a better understanding of the demands of their chosen career paths.
It depends on the academic unit. Students should check with their program advisor and graduate program coordinator to see if the PFx seminars can count as credit toward their Program of Study (POS). Most units do not allow PFx to count toward the degree at this time.
Although teaching is covered in the PFx seminar, it is only one part of the syllabus. There are many other professional development opportunities at ASU to improve teaching, including CIRTL certificates.
Absolutely! Even in the final year, the PFx seminar and webinars are still extremely helpful for students to better understand the expectations and realities of their future career possibilities as they prepare for that transition.