Little is more fundamental to journalism and mass communication education than the quality of the faculty. Even so, the literature is nearly silent on questions of what it means to prepare our emerging professorate to teach effectively.

"Preparing Graduate Students to Teach: Obligation and Practice" acknowledges Ernest Boyer's concern that "teaching is often viewed as a routine function, tacked on, something almost anyone can do." Two fundamental questions are generated from Dr. Boyer's 1990 assessment of the state of college and university teaching:

• What is our obligation to doctoral students when we take seriously Boyer's view of teaching a complex profession based upon scholarship?
• What elements of knowledge and practice beyond the deep mastery of the journalism and mass communication discipline do doctoral students need to become effective teachers?

Educator puts these questions to six experienced teachers, each of whom demonstrated expertise and sustained engagement in their own teaching and learning scholarship.  

Jeremy Cohen, Editor