Sabbatical

When I was in eighth grade, I was at a family Christmas reunion when I first heard the word, sabbatical. My cousins' uncle (do you have family that you're not technically related to?) is a professor, and I heard during the break that he was going to be on sabbatical. I asked somebody what that meant, but that person didn't know. I was too shy to ask Uncle Tom, and it wasn't until graduate school that I learned what a sabbatical was. The concept of a sabbatical still seemed far removed though, and if someone had asked me ten years ago what I would do for my sabbatical, I would have looked at them blankly. So I get it when I've heard similar things the last couple of months when I try to explain what a sabbatical is...

"...so you're off a semester?"

"...but you still get paid?!"

"So you'll be watching a lot of Netflix."

I heard a colleague describe a sabbatical as the time to focus full-time on one of the three roles I play as a professor. Professors typically have three areas they work: teaching, service, and research. Depending on the type of institution, the percentage of time spent on each area will range. A sabbatical gives release time from the teaching and service so all the work time can be spent on research. My sabbatical proposal included getting some of the papers I've worked on over the last couple years out the door for publication. While yesterday was the official start of my sabbatical, I got started last week. I am excited that one article has been sent off for review, and I'm working on reviewer comments for another paper this week and next. I made a weekly objectives schedule as well as a daily schedule to help me stay on task the next several months.

Sabbatical means rest or a break. And I'm definitely looking forward not only to the writing part of the sabbatical, but the reading and thinking I'll have time to do, too. I'm anticipating that the rest I'll get from teaching and service will be refreshing and get me ready for next fall when I return to the normal gig.

I pulled up my blog today and was surprised to see that the last time I wrote was six months ago. I had thought a few times last semester about writing a blog entry, but it never made it to the top of the list of things to do. Maybe that's a sign that it really is time for a sabbatical. Slow down a bit. Write some. Read a little. And think.

Looking forward to the next several months.