DESCRIPTION OF COLLOQUIUM This colloquium investigated graduate students becoming professors. Through the four presentations and ensuing discussion, it is argued that there is a pressing need to examine graduate students’ professional development experiences in U.S. foreign language (FL) departments. This context constitutes an object of study in its own right due to the institutional realities and unique qualities of university-level FL departments wherein graduate students are typically both novice FL teachers becoming professors and, simultaneously, experienced students of FL and culture now teaching novice FL learners. This being and becoming is at the core of the challenges of mentoring graduate students for language program directors (LPDs) and other faculty members. The importance of systematically investigating the apprenticeship of graduate students is critical for the future of the profession, since the ideas and understandings developed by graduate students in their formative years will shape their views on language teaching and learning for years to come. (abstract written by colloquium organizers: Heather Allen & Eduardo Negueruela)