A dialogue describes the common mission of the College of Education and the Research and Development Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Their mission is away from segmentation towards inter-instructional cooperation, intra-institutional collaboration and the integration of research and practice. They are jointly committed to the development of a fully integrated system of pre-service teacher education; specifically, their focus has shifted from teacher preparation per se toward basic research contributions to the knowledge bases underlying teacher education. This shift has (1) lead to developing research interest for the teacher education faculty; (2) put individual faculty members in touch with national and international organizations; (3) promoted publications and writing activities; (4) led to new and revised course developments; (5) provided research topics for graduate students; (6) promoted student involvement in research and field experience; (7) helped in recruitment of excellent graduate students; and (8) promoted more specific relationships with practitioners. Other gains have been: joint faculty appointments, and recommendations for joint faculty members' promotion and salary increases. The planning and reporting conferences and the sharing of visiting lecturers and consultants have benefited college faculty. (Author/PN)