Administrative sabbaticals - I had one and it worked!

Advocating the "sabbaticals could provide the mutual reset we all need," Melissa Richards proposed that administrators could potentially benefit from the sabbaticals that faculty assume as part of their privilege of serving in academia. I had one when I worked at Miami University, taking a semester to teach a leadership course at its Luxembourg campus and writing a book - Deeper Learning in Leadership. Richards' suggestions of what administrators could do during their sabbaticals duplicates my own experience but she neglected to address outcomes.

I believe that outcomes for the administrator and the institution are the most important part. Teaching in Europe allowed me to travel, experience other cultures, and have a reflective and productive intellectual interlude to punctuate the routine of my administrative responsibilities as Associate Vice President for Student Affairs. When I returned, I incorporated broader international ideas into my ongoing teaching, advising, and mentoring which benefitted the University. The unfortunate part was that Miami did not tap me for ongoing support of, or refinement of, their internationalization initiatives. I tried but my attempts to be involved in the "cocooned" office of international affairs were unsuccessful. Even after leaving Miami University to serve as Assistant Vice President for Faculty & Student Services for Qatar Foundation, and returning on visits back to the U.S.A. to campus to offer my assistance, nothing happened.

In retrospect, my sabbatical was in 2005 when internationalization as a pervasive and integrated element of students' learning had not emerged yet. The opportunity was there but the administrative segmentation of international programs put up a barrier that Miami ultimately did not attempt to bridge. My hope is that in 2022 Miami is approaching administrative sabbaticals (if they still allow or have expanded the opportunity) in a way that looks more carefully at multiple outcomes of such a rich experience, one treasured by faculty that could be important to administrators and the institution as well.