PPIT prepares future faculty members
The Faculty's Prospective Professors in Training (PPIT) program prepares soon-to-be faculty members for academia and teaches participants how to best manage their time and resources between teaching, research, and university administration.
Participants in PPIT typically have an identified passion for teaching and mentoring, in addition to excellent research abilities, and are close to completing their PhD.
The PPIT program includes three components: a course on Engineering teaching and learning; core seminars on a topic of interest to new faculty including how to apply for academic positions, classroom management, and how to start research programs and apply for grants; elective seminars covering various topics on teaching and learning offered by the Office of Teaching Advancement (OTA) and the Teaching Assistants Training Program (TATP).
PPIT became recognized as an official program during the 2007-2008 academic year; Engineering launched a pilot program of PPIT in the 2006-2007 academic year.
Engineering Newsletter staff recently spoke with Mohamed Abdelgawad, a current PPIT Teaching Assistant, about his involvement and knowledge of the PPIT program. Mohamed finished his PhD and graduated last June. Currently he is a post doctoral fellow at the Department of Surgery and Department of Mechanical Engineering.
1. What is your involvement with PPIT?
I am a teaching assistant for the program. However, my tasks are quite different from regular TA positions. In PPIT, TAs are responsible for:
- Providing the program outline at the beginning of the academic year
- Suggesting and contacting speakers for the different seminars
- Facilitating seminars
- Receiving participants' professional dossiers at the end of the program and coordinating experienced faculty members to assess the dossiers
2. How would you describe the program to a person who is unfamiliar with it?
The program's main objective is to prepare senior graduate students who are interested in academic careers for the rigors of academia. We introduce students to the details of the faculty hiring process from preparing a CV, to job interviews and negotiating a job offer. We also give many seminars that address different aspects of academic positions like starting research programs and applying for grants, managing time and students, class room managment, and course design. In addition, the program has a teaching component in the form of a graduate course "MIE3002 Engineering Teaching and Learning".
3. What benefit do you think PPIT has for its participants?
By the end of the program, PPIT participants will have gained a comprehensive idea on the different tasks that will be required from them as faculty members, thus they can prepare for it well in advance. They will be more familiar with the hiring process compared to other candidates which should give them better chances for being hired. Moreover, as part of the program, all participants have to submit a full professional dossier by the end of the program as if they are applying for a faculty positions. These dossiers are assessed by faculty members who sat down in many faculty search committees and the feedback they give to the students is very useful.
4. You are also a graduate of the program; what was it like for you?
The program was very useful to me and I enjoyed it very much. The seminars addressed what I wanted to know, and it made me more prepared for applying for academic positions. The best way to say it is: PPIT taught me the language that hiring committees understand.
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