To satisfy the ongoing demands of external communities, education faculty at liberal arts colleges often make curricular and instructional compromises within their programs which can adversely affect the developmental goals of liberal education. This article highlights several of the complex tensions faculty members face in offering their candidates a program that equips them for professional practice yet still explores the larger scope of what it means to be fully human. It describes a framework for liberal arts teacher preparation as well as the process by which it was developed and the benefits that have resulted from this process.