Calls for reform in doctoral education are not new. However, the past decade has experienced renewed interest and discussion in preparing the future professoriate. Whereas most studies of graduate student socialization and preparation for faculty roles have focused on doctoral students or new faculty, this study examined the perceptions of senior faculty members involved in doctoral education. All senior faculty (n=4970) in biological sciences, English, mathematics, and non-clinical psychology from a stratified sample of 69 research universities nationwide were invited to participate. More than 1150 faculty completed a web-based survey. Respondents rated the importance of 18 competencies (based on a framework by Austin and McDaniels) and 24 roles during 1) the first three years of faculty work and 2) doctoral education. Additionally, participants identified persons having primary responsibility for introducing doctoral students to each competency or role. Faculty respondents rated general competencies and research roles as more important than teaching and service roles for both new faculty and doctoral students. Whereas nearly all items were rated higher in importance for faculty than students, mean difference scores showed great variability. Results also varied by discipline. In general, most respondents viewed the doctoral student advisor or all faculty members in the academic unit as having primary responsibility for introducing specific roles and competencies to doctoral students; other common responses included the student and nobody. Results of the study have important implications for doctoral education at the national, institutional, and unit levels. First, consideration of disciplinary differences in priorities for doctoral training and new faculty development programs is vital. Additionally, multiple stakeholders can impact the preparation of future faculty. Training institutions, hiring institutions, and students can play a role in narrowing the gap between doctoral student preparation and the work required of new faculty. Suggestions for future research include expanding the sample to include a broader array of academic disciplines and incorporating qualitative methods to discern reasons for disparities in the importance assigned to specific competencies and roles. Research should also explore the perceptions of senior faculty concerning the worth and feasibility of recent recommendations aimed at better preparing future faculty.

Almost half of all graduate students leave their doctoral programs without finishing. Who leaves, taking which skills and strengths with them, is still poorly understood, however, because it is hard to measure exactly what graduate students learn in their doctoral programs. Since the expertise required of a PhD holder is highly dependent on discipline, the development of a better understanding of graduate education and attrition requires studying the process at the departmental level.This is a qualitative study of the cultural values and norms of academic astronomy, as transmitted through the socialization of graduate students into giving talks, asking questions, and participating in departmental speaking events. This study also looks at the conflicts that arise when implicit cultural norms, which are practiced but remain unacknowledged, are inconsistent with the official, explicit values and norms for speaking in astronomy.Doctoral students and faculty members in a single astronomy department, at a large western university, filled out a short survey about the stakes involved in astronomy speaking events. A subset of these individuals was interviewed in-depth about the goals of, and their experiences with, five departmental speaking events: Coffee Hour, Journal Club, research talks, Thesis defense talks, and Colloquia. These interviewees were: (1) graduate students who had given a verbal presentation at one of these events, and (2) graduate students and faculty members who were in the audience at a graduate student's presentation.The desired outcomes which were expressed for these speaking events included: (1) lively, informal discussion among all participants, (2) increasing graduate student verbal participation in these events as they "learn to speak like astronomers," and (3) the utility of these events in helping graduate students learn and practice their speaking and reasoning skills related to astronomy research. In practice these goals were not achieved due to: (1) the ubiquitous, but unacknowledged practice of judging others' speech performance to come to negative conclusions about those individuals' intentions, intellectual abilities or efforts, (2) a lack of feedback for graduate students on their verbal performances, and (3) a lack of faculty members making explicit their own solutions to the inherent dilemmas of academic speaking.

Successful graduate student socialization has been characterized as the acceptance and adoption of disciplinary values and beliefs into the students’ identity (Bragg, 1976; Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001). Some scholars assert that assimilating the values and beliefs of the discipline may be difficult for Blacks students as their cultural beliefs and values may be incongruent (Antony, 2002; Tierney & Rhoads, 1994). Surprisingly, there appears to be no empirical studies exploring this assertion for Black Ph.D. students. The purpose of this study was to determine if cultural beliefs and values influence the socialization experiences of Black Ph.D. students. Specifically, using racial identity as a theoretical framework, hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between racial identity and socialization (as measured by faculty-student interactions, peer-peer interactions, and student’s perceptions of faculty) of Black Ph.D. students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Data were collected from 389 current Ph.D. students and recent completers. Racial identity was assessed using the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998). After controlling for key demographic variables, results indicated racial identity influenced some aspects of socialization. Specifically, public regard was positively related to faculty-student interaction as well as students’ perception of faculty. Racial centrality and ascribing to a humanist ideology were also positively related to students’ perception of faculty. Finally, ascribing to a nationalist ideology was inversely related to peer-peer interactions. The findings indicate that cultural beliefs and values do influence the socialization experience. Moreover, the results reveal a potential rationale for the possible differences in socialization among Black Ph.D. students. Specifically, differences in racial identity attitudes and beliefs influence the behavior of students and thus their socialization experience. Overall, the findings suggest that faculty and students in Ph.D. programs at PWI institutions might develop socialization practices that take into consideration cultural differences. Specific recommendations include: forming a mentoring/advising partnership with student to determine the most relevant plan for socialization into the student’s desired roles and using pedagogies and practices such as collaborative learning and wise schooling that are culturally relevant and supportive.