Sabbatical Experiences Provide Learning Opportunities

Finding time to conduct research or learn new teaching techniques can be elusive for life scientists with heavy teaching loads and administrative commitments. Time "off" for a sabbatical leave can offer a welcome chance for a scientist to learn. TOO CLOSE TO HOME: Hamilton College biologist Ernest Williams notes that it can be difficult to focus on research during stay-at-home sabbaticals. "To some extent, a sabbatical is an escape from the usual pressures. It is a different pace, and gets away from the routine of never having enough time," says Ernest Williams, a professor of biology at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. A sabbatical can also foster important relationships, both professional and personal. "By going on sabbatical I was able to establish several contacts and friendships that have lasted," reports Lafras Steyn, an associate professor in the department of medical microbiology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He spent a sabbatical year in 1986 at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver working with Mitchell Sogin, a principal investigator in molecular biology at the center. Once a perk unique to academia, sabbaticals are becoming part of the corporate world, although some lawmakers may be unaware of their prevalence. In 1995, for example, an Illinois state legislator, commenting that a university should be run like a business, said that sabbaticals aren't something seen in business. In response, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign documented sabbatical policies in several high-pressure companies. "These are firms where it is important to produce, to keep current, to learn the latest techniques-places that, like universities, value a retooling every six years or so," says Thomas Eakman, executive assistant vice president of academic affairs, who wrote the report presented to the state legislature in April 1996. "The criticism that sabbaticals are a luxury not available in the business world is no longer valid. Sabbatical leaves are not just for professors anymore. They are a part of corporate America and are gaining popularity in other parts of the world." Because sabbaticals are in demand, academic departments typically set rules that specify who can leave when. A common timetable is a semester or two on sabbatical every six or seven years. But particulars depend upon department dynamics. "Granting of leave depends on the acceptability of the project, and the ability of the academic department to 'survive' without your presence," explains Carol Chihara, a professor of biology at the University of San Francisco. In her department, full-time faculty can apply for sabbatical every six years and take leave for one or two semesters the year following the application. At Hamilton College, sabbatical leave is guaranteed after every 10 consecutive academic-year semesters of teaching, reports Williams. FAMILY AFFAIR: Careful planning helped Rhodes College’s Gary Lindquester and his wife, Terri, take simultaneous sabbaticals at University of Melbourne in Australia. The value of a sabbatical experience is widely recognized in academia and "part of the normal program for faculty development at many universities," notes Edward Jarroll, chairman of the department of biology at Northeastern University in Boston. Often, the home institution pays all or part of the salary. "My institution pays 60 percent of my normal salary on a year sabbatical or 100 percent for one semester," notes Gary Lindquester, a professor in the department of biology at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. When Lindquester did a year-long sabbatical in 1966 with Michael Studdert, head of the Center for Equine Virology at the University of Melbourne in Australia, his host paid half his salary differential. For Steyn's sabbatical year in Denver, home and host institutions each paid half his salary. MAKING CONTACT: Northeastern University biologist Edward Jarroll "met" his sabbatical host through the literature. Some departments extend sabbatical leave if the scientist obtains external funding from fellowships or grants. For example, thanks to a Fulbright scholarship he received when he was a professor of biology at Cleveland State University, Jarroll did a sabbatical in the summer of 1993 at Charles University in Prague. A scientist seeking a sabbatical must have a project and host institution in mind. Most sabbatical relationships begin by word of mouth. "Scientists don't routinely 'select' other scientists to come do sabbaticals in [their] labs. Rather, it's very much an individualized kind of thing," observes Jeffrey Palmer, a professor in the department of biology at Indiana University who is well-known for his work on early molecular evolution. "Most often, a scientist interested in doing a sabbatical with me usually knows me fairly well and will contact me to see whether I'm interested in hosting him or her." For Leon Combs, chairman of the department of chemistry at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga., sabbatical contacts were forged early in his career. "While I was a graduate student, I attended a program at the University of Florida led by Per Olov Lowdin, a leader in the field of quantum chemistry," he says. For family reasons, Combs declined an offer to do postdoctoral research with Lowdin. Then, at a meeting in Norway in 1976, Lowdin offered him lab space and a title, but no salary, at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. This time, Combs jumped at the opportunity. "I was a professor of chemistry and physics at Mississippi State University [MSU], was 39 years old, and felt like I needed a significant jump in my research program, which seemed to have stalled somewhat," Combs recalls. MSU and the Swedish Research Council funded his 1977-78 sabbatical. Sabbatical relationships can arise between strangers. For example, Chihara wrote to principal investigators at several laboratories using Drosophila in France and ended up working at the University of Paris at Jussieu with biology professor Jean-Antoine Lepesant. Jarroll "met" his host through the literature. And the school of biological sciences at Flinder University in Adelaide, Australia, has a Web site that actively solicits sabbatical visitors. Two common reasons for life scientists to take sabbaticals are to switch organisms and to learn new laboratory techniques. Joseph Pelliccia, a professor of biology at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, did both. "My last sabbatical, in winter 1996, was a time to completely retool as a scientist," he recalls. "I spent four months in the lab of John Collins at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. There I switched model organisms, from flies to worms, and was also introduced to a major technology, PCR, that I had only a little familiarity with." Jarroll also used his sabbatical to switch organisms. "I worked in the laboratory of Jaroslav Kulda, a professor of parasitology, in the summer of 1993 [in Prague]. I learned to study groups of protozoans that were different from the ones I usually study," he says. STAYING CURRENT: Elsa Falls, right, shown working with a student, is using her sabbatical to brush up on genetics in preparation for teaching a new course. Sabbaticals provide time to sharpen teaching skills and to catch up on course content. Elsa Falls, an associate professor of biology at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va., is currently on sabbatical to prepare for teaching a new (for her) course-genetics, which she hasn't studied since the 1960s. "I am spending much of this semester at the University of Richmond sitting in on their class in cell and molecular biology, and assisting in labs. I am utilizing techniques that are all brand new to me," she reports. Scientists on sabbatical often keep their eyes and ears open, with the intent of instituting a program or facility at their home base similar to the one they visit. Steyn's sabbatical enabled him to establish a molecular biology research laboratory at his home institution. "At [that] time there were relatively few commercial kits for molecular research, and it was useful to acquire skills as an 'apprentice' in a laboratory where these techniques were in regular use," he notes. For professors at small undergraduate institutions, "a sabbatical lets one shift focus from teaching," explains Williams, an ecologist. Hamilton College, his home institution, emphasizes teaching and administrative service, with research squeezed into odd hours and summers. To find a block of time to conduct his research on butterfly-plant interactions, he did a commuting sabbatical at Cornell University in 1990 in the laboratory of Paul Feeney. The schedule was stressful, but the overall experience positive, he remembers. "My family couldn't be uprooted, so I tried commuting. It was hard on my family, and I spent a lot of time on the road. But working in an active and interesting place was good, and professionally it was quite satisfying." Sabbaticals can take scientists virtually anywhere, but they need not be far from home to be valuable. Becky Houck, a professor of biology at the University of Portland in Oregon, used her spring 1990 sabbatical to explore eclectic opportunities in her home city, which allowed her to spend more time with her young child. She learned how to do DNA fingerprinting of dolphins and killer whales in a friend's lab. She also studied zebras, giraffes, and her new specialty, bats, as a volunteer researcher at the local zoo. As a result, "I have made a midlife career change of the most fundamental type-from invertebrates to vertebrates," she says. Houck formerly worked on octopus and squid. More memorable than the dolphins and bats, however, was Houck's experience in the classroom-as a student again. She took a graduate course in research methods in captive zoo animal behavior at the Metro Washington Park Zoo. "I felt again what it was like to be a student, to experience the stress and anxiety of exams, the intensity of the learning experience, the awkwardness in meeting the other students in the class. It made me a better teacher," she maintains. Houck advises others, especially those with family commitments, to consider sabbaticals nearby. "You don't need [a National Science Foundation] grant to take advantage of local opportunities for learning new research skills." But doing a sabbatical too close to home-in one's own lab-presents problems. "If you stay at your home base, as faculty often do and I did, it is very hard to stay free of all kinds of college involvements," says Williams, who did a "stay-at-home" sabbatical in 1995. "Students know you are there, and you still get asked to be on committees. It is easier to focus full-time on research when you leave." Scientists who took sabbaticals in other countries are very enthusiastic about the experience. Such leaves offer benefits beyond the scientific. "Going on sabbatical gave me an insight into another culture-an opportunity to see a different part of the world-and helped me to evaluate what was really important to me," relates Steyn. Lindquester agrees. He and his wife, Terri Lindquester, who at the time was an associate professor of mathematics at Rhodes College, had to plan carefully for their simultaneous sabbaticals at the University of Melbourne. They had begun their tenure-track positions at the same time, received tenure at the same time, and were on the same sabbatical schedule. They each had hosts in Melbourne, and their children were not in school yet. The experience was memorable. "We Americans tend to be isolated from the world and think the world is like America. We now have new research to engage our students in, and our expanded world view and experience comes across in our interactions with students," he adds. GOLDEN MOMENTS: Kennesaw State's Leon Combs took a sabbatical in Sweden that allowed him to attend several Nobel Prize ceremonies and events. Kennesaw State's Combs had a pleasant surprise during his sabbatical in Sweden. "Because Professor Lowdin was on the selection committee for the Nobel Prize in physics, I was able to attend several select events as well as go to the Nobel Prize ceremonies with my wife and son, who was in the fifth grade," he recalls. Research done on sabbaticals can lead to publications, awards, and patents. Typically, an understanding is forged by visitor and host before research begins that credit for discoveries and inventions will be shared. "If a scientist works at an institution, it is generally accepted that the institution where the work was done is listed as the primary address, and a footnote lists the communication address. If work is done in different places, or done at one place and written up at another, it is a judgment call," says Williams. Lindquester listed his home institution when writing up work done at the University of Melbourne, where it was informally understood that work performed in the lab was the 'property' of the lab. "For example, although I have copies for my own records, my lab notebooks are in their possession. Publications resulting will include members of that lab as coauthors, but will list my address as Rhodes College. I can mention the fact that I worked in Melbourne on sabbatical in the acknowledgments section of the paper," he says. Should a marketable diagnostic test arise from the work-on equine herpes viruses-Lindquester suggests that the two institutions develop a joint financial arrangement. Whether a sabbatical takes a researcher to another country or to just another part of the building, those lucky enough to have taken them agree that they can rejuvenate a career. Notes Jarroll: "Most professors take sabbaticals to recharge their batteries and avoid burnout, or as an opportunity to redirect their research. It is a wonderful time." Ricki Lewis, a freelance science writer based in Scotia, N.Y., is the author of several biology textbooks. She can be reached online at 76715.3517@compuserve.com.

Sabbatical Experiences Provide Learning Opportunities

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of