The Ford Apprentice Scholar Program in Eckerd College was launched by a grant from the Ford Foundation in 1987, sustained by a second Ford grant in 1991 and is now supported by the College. Each year up to twenty rising Juniors are given the opportunity to participate in a two year course of study designed to prepare them for graduate school and to pursue a career in college or university teaching. Faculty select and sponsor the participants on the basis of academic achievement, intellectual promise, and a willingness to explore college teaching as career. The program involves special coursework, summer research in collaboration with a faculty sponsor, a major project during the Senior year, and supervised teaching experience.