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Preparing the Next Generation of Special Education Professionals: Challenges and Opportunities for the Nation’s Minority Serving Colleges and Universities Dr. Orlando L. Taylor Vice Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School at Harvard University We have a tremendous opportunity to produce a new kind of faculty for a new generation.

Dr. Taylor’s presentation focused on the role of college and university faculty, and especially on preparing future faculty. He said that focus on preparing future faculty is very important because the United States population is aging, and therefore there will be a significant turnover in college and university faculty. As a result, we have a tremendous opportunity and challenge regarding what the faculty of the future will look like. Right now there is too little diversity in the faculty in terms of minority populations, especially African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.

Dr. Taylor raised the issue of how we prepare the next generation of faculty:

• If we prepare them the same way we did in the past, the same problems will continue to occur.

• Most practicing professionals do what they are taught to do in a university, college, or workshop.

• We have to think seriously about who is on the faculty because they train the professionals and determine the curricula, education standards, accreditation standards, and professional society standards. They are the gatekeepers in that they determine what is considered normal and good.

• Post-secondary institutions must strategically develop their doctoral programs to prepare future faculty. We need think about how we can make the curriculum and doctoral experience more meaningful and effective in preparing students for careers as faculty.

• We need to give students who want to teach at the college level better mentoring and preparation in how to teach and on issues of cultural and linguistic diversity as they apply to teaching.

• Preparing Future Faculty programs should prepare doctoral students to teach more diverse students; emphasize teaching, learning, and assessment; develop a more inclusive curriculum; and be able to think and teach with an interdisciplinary perspective.

BIOGRAPHY

Orlando L. Taylor is Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University. A professor in the School of Communications, Dean Taylor joined the Howard faculty in 1973. He was a member of the faculty of Indiana University and also served as a visiting professor at Stanford University.

Dean Taylor is a national leader in graduate education and within his discipline. He has served on numerous national boards, including the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, for which he has served as chair. He is also immediate past president of the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools and a former president of the National Communication Association. He is a former member of the Advisory Committee of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources of the National Science Foundation and Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health. He is currently president of the Consortium of Social Science Associations, chair-elect of the Board of the Jacob Javits Fellowship Program in the Humanities, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
Dean Taylor has raised more than $25 million in research, training and program development grants from Federal and private sources during his career at Howard University. Currently, he serves as PI or Co-PI on major program development and training grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education and the Agency for International Development. Most of his current extramural activities focus on enhancing graduate education at Howard University and on fulfilling the university’s mission to position itself among the nation’s leading research universities.

Dean Taylor received his bachelor's degree from Hampton University, master's degree from Indiana University and Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan.