Skip to main content

The Last Week of Sabbatical

 It it sad to close this small chapter of my life.


Sabbatical leave has been a unique and wonderful experience. This time away from the details of everyday worklife, has provided opportunity to refresh, reflect, reimagine and be reinvogorated for future projects and work relevant to the IL community and my college community writ large.

I find more energy, enthusiasm, and patience for the everydayness types of demands. 

Having the opportunity to attend a faculty contract bargaining session (Thank you Kerri Smith, UFF President,  for this insightful and thoughtful invitation for faculty to attend) was a great way to re-connect in a casual manner with other faculty, and get my prox card working! 

This casual but impactful re-introduction time after sabbatical I would suggest was serendipitous.  Conversations with math faculty, psychology, education, english, health science and others was a significant way to slowly re-engage in our college community.  I came away from this with a new project for our BS in Education program, Great conversations about website evaluations with Psychology faculty, and learning more about the English faculty trajectory for future possible revamping of courses.

I also, serendipitously, met a student on my way out in the parking lot, with questions about Graduation the next day.  With a quick phone call to the Bookstore and having the student follow me in her car to the next day Graduation parking lot, we mitigated anxiety about the event, had her question about gown and cap pick up answered, and she left smiling. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Month - Reflection - September 2022

 Sabbatical at the one-month anniversary is a new space for managing projects, timelines, and schedules. I feel like I have a bit of rhythm to my days by allowing time for exercise (self-care), mindfulness, and thinking to allow for innovative and creative thought.  Running (jogging) has been something that has not been part of my routine for some time, and during this first month of sabbatical, I make time to include a run most days.  Cross-training with some relaxed biking, walking, swimming, short yoga stretching sessions and gardening are part of the first month of sabbatical exercise options that have been embraced.  I keep it very flexible with no self-imposed expectations of a schedule or routine.  The weather might impact the exercise or some other commitment - but doing something active every day is what I look forward to and plan for - at some point in the day. I've recommitted to my daily morning devotions which help to set the tone and confidence to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Writing - thinking, organizing, synthesizing, connecting dots - Grateful! - Second month of sabbatical - October, 2022

This is the last week of October 2022. I'm ending the second month of my sabbatical term and feel like I have a good rhythm - in some ways- and less so in others. Sabbatical is supposed to provide some relaxation- some rest. This article ( https://millie.us/summer-2022 /) by Brienne Walsh in the publication MILLIE   titled: Gap Years for Grown Ups , reminds us that this break from work was established by Harvard University in 1880, for scholars to pursue research, writing, and potentially travel needed to pursue scholarly work. The concept of a sabbatical is based on the Biblical agricultural concept of a break for rest and recovery ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatical ). An academic sabbatical can be for a term or a full year, but the intent is for normal academic daily duties to cease and for research and writing to continue during this break.  It has been agreed amongst experts that traveling or taking a break can boost creativity and when in a relaxed state the capac...
Post a Comment
Read more