Leave program renews enthusiasm for teaching
By Aine Gianoli
J Alumni News staff
Journalism professors at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are closing their office doors for semesters at a time.
Sometimes called sabbaticals, faculty development leaves allow professors to pursue research projects unhindered by teaching and advising. Projects include writing books, creating documentaries and collecting historical data.
Leaves also energize faculty, giving them renewed enthusiasm for their jobs, according to Will Norton Jr., dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Faculty development leaves are recent phenomena to long-time College of Journalism and Mass Communications faculty. In 1994, Larry Walklin was the first faculty member to go on leave. The broadcasting professor had been teaching for 27 years.
"It was a historic event because we'd never had a faculty leave until Dean Norton came," Walklin said.
The college simply didn't have the money to offer leaves before the 1990s, Norton said.
"It's not that we have a lot of money now. I just think it's a priority," he said. "You can't do the same thing year after year without a break - or else you break."
Using seniority as a guide, Norton has given faculty leaves to all associate and full professors in the college, except for two news-editorial professors who have leaves scheduled in the next couple of years.
Eligibility for leave depends on the length of time a faculty member has been at the college. The dean selects candidates and juggles faculty schedules to cover any empty teaching positions. If selected, a professor submits a written proposal to the dean, outlining his or her research goals. The proposal is then sent to the chancellor, who makes recommendations to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, which accepts or rejects them.
Laurie Thomas Lee, an associate broadcasting professor, didn't have trouble generating a proposal. She was already writing a book that Iowa State Press had accepted for publication. A development leave during fall 2002 gave Lee more time to write.
"I think there is a misperception that a sabbatical is a vacation. It's not," she said. "It's a nice opportunity to sit back and work on one thing."
Lee worked on her book, Online Privacy: Personal Information vs. the Internet, and she polished two journal articles. One article covers the Patriot Act and privacy; it will be published in Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal this spring. The other article, titled "Can Police Track Your Wireless Call? Call Location Information and Privacy Law," will be published by Cardozo Arts and Entertain-ment Law Journal during fall 2003. Her book is still in progress.
"I hope to finish that up this summer," she said. She didn't really have time to work on it once she came back to teaching in spring semester.
For John Bender, spring semester was prime book-writing time.
An associate professor in the news-editorial department, Bender was on leave for the spring 2003 semester.
He worked on a book about a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case, The Nebraska Press Association et al. v. Stuart. The case arose in October 1975 when Erwin Charles Simants was accused of murdering six members of the Henry Kellie family in Sutherland.
During open hearings before Simants' trial, a judge placed gag orders on the media to prevent potential jury members from being influenced by what they read. Newspapers and broadcasters in Nebraska challenged the gag order, and the case made it all the way to the high court, where the judge's ruling was declared unconstitutional.
The case is important, Bender said, because First and Sixth Amendment rights were at stake. "This was just one instance where courts were trying to control prejudicial coverage," he said. "I am trying to tell the whole story of the case."
The semester's leave was an opportunity to get fully into the topic, Bender said. "I did a little bit (of research) while I was teaching, but it was hard to break free," he said.
While researching the Simants story, Bender is also updating a textbook. He said the eighth edition of "Reporting for the Media" should be complete by summer 2003.
Bender said the book project was giving him experiences to share with reporting students when he starts teaching again.
Lee agreed that professors generated new teaching ideas during leaves.
"The sabbatical is supposed to re-energize you, and I think it does," Lee said. "It brings a little more balance to your life."
