Polyphony is the art of blending distinct lines of melody into a harmonic musical texture. Advocacy organizations such as the American Academy for Arts and Science and the American Association of University Professionals have contributed important statements about conditions of higher education and academic freedom. Graduate professional development is not only about the graduate students themselves, but also about the larger academic community and its role in society. Critical pedagogies insist upon the role of students as critical subjects and protagonists in a socio-economic and political field characterized by implicit structural inequalities. The growing reliance on alumni campaigns and philanthropic development also emphasizes research that seems to promise direct social, economic or cultural impacts for the local community. The socialization processes inherent in disciplinary acculturation impart highly particular knowledges, orientations and expectations about how to be a particular kind of scientist, artist, scholar, researcher, practitioner or manager.