A sabbatical often conjures up visions of a year of travel, free time for research and writing, and completing a large writing project. However, many faculty do not experience such luxurious conditions. As Annmarie Caño recently pointed out, universities are often criticized for not providing space and time for faculty to recharge their research agendas. And even if faculty are fortunate enough to actually take a sabbatical, it often involves ongoing university responsibilities and geographic restrictions within the compressed time frame of a single semester.
As a faculty member on his third sabbatical last semester, I still had responsibilities to manage. Because I direct a graduate program, I have to respond to students who are in the pipeline for admission next year. I also met with potential students on Zoom and on campus. In another administrative role, I helped faculty design and submit tenure review materials each semester. My sabbatical officially began on January 9th, but these administrative responsibilities have kept me tethered to my university email and physical location.
I'm not alone. Faculty at regional state universities and small liberal arts colleges experience similar responsibilities and time constraints. Fully paid, one-semester sabbaticals instead of or in addition to the traditional one-year period are already common at land-grant institutions, comprehensive private universities, and even many major research universities, such as Georgetown University and the University of Pittsburgh.
And caring for children or elders on top of college responsibilities can make it unrealistic for many people to be away from school for an extended period of time. Sabbaticals are typically offered approximately every seven years to tenure-track and tenure-track faculty, but the nuances of a “tied sabbatical” must be recognized to ensure faculty can make the most of their semester-long experience. Here are some suggestions based on my experience and observations:
Rethink your location. Although some faculty may choose to leave for archives, live elsewhere, or be away from university guidance for a year, academic parents and guardians often find short-term relocation for one semester unrealistic. Like many mid-career academics, I am part of the ‘sandwich generation’ with school-aged children at home and older parents to monitor. My partner is capable, but as dean, he is in a demanding position that requires travel and late nights.
So, for two of my three sabbaticals, I went to a research university within a two-hour drive, and was able to drive in and out for a day or stay overnight two days in a row without interfering with my family responsibilities. What worked best for me was finding a sabbatical location that was far away enough for research opportunities, but close enough to allow me to travel home if needed. During my third sabbatical, which required longer travel, I worked in the field for a week and then from home for a few weeks.
Although this is not the sabbatical that many academics dream of, I have found that both semi-local and short-distance stays have their benefits. Like all faculty members who are pressed for time to conduct research, I have found very efficient ways to work in the field. Location days provided an expected surge of productive work, while at-home days provided critical planning and insight to get more work done. Another benefit was that I actively sought opportunities to utilize teaching, research libraries, and writing labs on my sabbatical campus. Choosing a semi-regional or short-distance sabbatical location allowed me to accommodate both college and family responsibilities while freeing up time for research and writing.
Set a start date. In a recent episode of the “Real Life Sabbatical” podcast series, I explained my decision-making process for making the most of a 16-week sabbatical. Part of this process was deciding on a start date for myself.
Officially my sabbatical started on January 7th. But I used the first two weeks of my vacation to catch up on college work while also doing some long-postponed home maintenance. I then spent two weeks last January focusing on my sabbatical research. I began organizing, reading, and writing projects while acclimating to the culture and exploring materials at my sabbatical institution.
Finally, on February 2nd, I began my activities in earnest with intensive reading and writing. This choice may seem like a wasted four out of 16 weeks, but it was a much-needed reset. After spending a few weeks catching up on work I'd neglected during several busy regular semesters, I was ready to dive into academic work.
Set realistic productivity goals. Many academics, especially those involved in teaching, are guilty of making overly ambitious study plans during their sabbatical years. From my previous two sabbatical experiences, I knew that 16 weeks was not enough to complete a large writing project or longitudinal study. But it was enough time to accomplish a few small sabbatical goals that would contribute to both short-term and long-term productivity.
My main goal was to design a research instrument for collecting interview data at the sabbatical location. As a visiting scholar for the Narrative Project at Ohio State University, I planned to use narrative theory and methodology to analyze faculty members' accounts of their writing processes while leveraging better access to research on methodology, faculty expertise, and visiting lectures. question. A realistic goal of my one-semester sabbatical was not to collect the data itself, but to design a research tool for data collection.
The second project I took on was to start leisurely researching and writing to plan out my upcoming book and develop its larger components. My goal after the sabbatical was to draft a proposal and table of contents. The third project involved halfway completing an academic paper that had been sitting in my pipeline for too long. We are pleased to report that both of these projects are now complete. A mix of new and ongoing work, this project involves a short period of time to complete an overdue project (an article), set up tools for a new research study (completed in the field), and move forward with an extended writing project (a book). I took advantage of it. ).
Study writing exercises. A sabbatical semester is ideal for rediscovering your natural reading and research preferences, and its duration throughout the semester provides a distinct opportunity to research how you can best utilize your time after classes are over. Sabbaticals don’t happen often, so they provide a great opportunity to rethink what’s appropriate for academic writing.
For example, my recent sabbatical has further solidified the fact that I continue to write most productively in the library, whether at home or on sabbatical campus. I also experimented with the best time of day to write, and despite years of training myself to write in the morning, my natural preference for writing in the afternoon for a few hours reemerged. As a result of this insight, I am prioritizing afternoon writing next school year when I return to a full roster of lectures and conferences. Rather than simply accepting the phenomenon of morning writing, I have been making more proactive efforts to schedule morning classes and meetings. In summary, a semester sabbatical provides an ideal time to reconnect and optimize your preferred writing routine.
Take your time. Productivity experts recommend developing a realistic work pace during a sabbatical, and the “slow professor” movement has become more popular. In practice, however, faculty on sabbatical tend to overwork themselves with projects and speed up the process. This may be because they are more aware of their time clock ticking louder than during a regular semester, or because they feel overloaded and behind on their projects due to work. Fatigue from years of training and service schedules. Some academics, such as Hanna Tervanotko, worry that if they miss the deadline when applying for sabbatical leave, despite needing a break, they will be “not sticking to the plan” they have set. This pressure becomes even stronger during the sabbatical semester when you have to move quickly.
But now that I have three sabbaticals left, I resisted the urge for the third. As a studious mom who planned her day down to the second, I intentionally slowed down. I set a goal of not rushing anywhere for 16 weeks. I leisurely filled my medication at 9:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, filled up with gas before the tank was empty, and drove the speed limit instead of attempting the 15-minute drive from a late meeting to middle school in 11 minutes. find. I wrote thoughtful, detailed notes at the end of the writing session about what to do next. I allow myself one hour a day for hobbies like tennis or playing guitar. Even though the sabbatical lasted only 16 weeks, it felt longer. Because I gave myself permission to slow down.
As Christine Grant has argued, sabbaticals have “transformed in the ‘new’ academic arena” and have been influenced by both the short-term COVID-19 disruption and ongoing problems with university funding. As institutional finances become increasingly tight, fully paid one-semester sabbaticals instead of the traditional year-long sabbatical leave will continue to be the norm. These changing conditions require faculty to rethink their approach to sabbaticals to maximize academic productivity and vitality.