Virginia Tech’s Future Faculty Diversity Program (FFDP) is a rigorous three-day event for doctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars interested in academic careers. Participants are chosen from a national pool of candidates who apply directly to the program and are matched with an interested department.
The Office for Inclusion and Diversity (OID) currently serves as the administrative base for the program, which draws a wonderfully diverse group of participants in terms of gender, race, and geographic region. Specifically, FFDP is designed to assist departments with identifying and recruiting talent from historically underrepresented domesticminority populations such as African Americans, Hispanics/Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Natives, and Pacific Islanders.
In fact, FFDP provides participants with an invaluable opportunity for professional development, as well as an opportunity to have candid discussions with department heads, deans, and early career faculty members about life in academia. As part of the experience, participants are hosted by a Virginia Tech department to tour research facilities, meet with current faculty to gain a greater awareness of research and teaching opportunities, discuss their career prospects and academic work, and present a research talk.
The program will take place on October 3-6, 2021 and will be in person. Colleagues are encouraged to invite potential future faculty scholars to apply. Applications are open and will be accepted through August 15.
