On sabbaticals next year, Don Barry will travel to Turkey, while Carol Israel will study neuroscience, and Jon Stableford will write about his narrow brush with death. These faculty members were awarded sabbaticals for the purpose of “enhancing professional development, growth, and, in some cases, rejuvenation or renewal of faculty at different stages of their lives,” said Temba Maqubela, Dean of Faculty. “Fortunately, the last three years, we’ve been able to give sabbaticals to the vast majority of the faculty who applied. That’s a huge benefit to the faculty,” Maqubela said. Barry was one of eight faculty who will be going on sabbatical during the next school year. “I’m going to do three Spring Term sabbaticals in a row, and the only one I planned for next year is to go to Turkey,” Barry said. He will be brushing up on his Turkish, which he learned during his time teaching in Turkey from 1973 to 1980. “Another one of my plans is to make further plans in a book I’m writing on the history of one of the schools in Turkey . . . Mrs. Barry’s parents were teaching there. She grew up at that school,” Barry continued. Barry previously took a sabbatical during the 1989–1990 year. “I went to Cambridge, England with my family, attended classes at the University of Cambridge and did a lot of research on the history of mathematics,” he said. The trustees choose which faculty members can go on sabbatical for a given year based on recommendations by Maqubela and John Rogers, Dean of Students and Instructor in Chemistry, “in consultation with their department chairs or supervisors and sometimes individual faculty,” said Maqubela. Carol Israel, Instructor in Psychology, is taking Fall Term off to learn about neuroscience. She said, “Two years ago Dr. Hagler [Instructor in Biology], Dr. Warsaw [Dean of Studies at Deerfield Academy and Former Instructor in Music at PA], and I . . . got together to start working on an interdisciplinary course, and each of us, separately, got really interested in the brain,” she said. “This course we taught for the first time this winter. It’s called ‘You and Your Brain’ . . and we just loved it. So my sabbatical is all about this course,” Israel continued. Israel hopes to work in Boston in a neuroscience lab to learn how to conduct research in the field and help out with the researchers’ work. She said, “All of this is so I can teach this class better . . . I just want to bring to this class the most cutting-edge of what’s out there.” Herb Morton, Registrar, will be taking a year to train the new registrar, Elizabeth Korn, currently Associate Dean of Studies, and current Recorder Anne Burgess as assistant. Morton said his intent is “none other than to make the other individuals clear how to do the various aspects of the job.” He will be training them about two days a week. Dr. Chris Odden, Instructor in Mathematics, will be taking the year to learn how to program in Java and continue research on solenoids. He will continue living in Elbridge Stuart House, where he is a house counselor. “The solenoid project is something I’ve been interested in since graduate school, and I’ve been working on it off and on for years,” Odden said. He continued, “The first [Java programming] is something I have not been working on. I was a better programmer in seventh grade than I am now, so I really need to join the 21st century and learn how to make the most of the computing power that’s available these days.” Odden decided only recently to take a sabbatical. “It was a rather abrupt turn of events in the fall . . . I just realized that in terms of placement in my career this makes sense because it’s early enough that I will be able to add it to a good chunk of my teaching career . . . If I can learn how to use programming in the classroom, it could make my teaching go smoother,” he said. David Pottle, Chair of the Classics Department, will leave for a term to continue developing a new Latin curriculum as part of his work as chair of the department. Jon Stableford, Chair of the English Department, will continue to work on a book during his summer sabbatical. He said, “I had a summer sabbatical last summer which I used to begin a book on my experience with a near-fatal illness in the summer of 2006. This summer I plan to continue work on the draft I completed last year . . . My hope is complete a manuscript this summer.” Stableford said, “In the summer of 2006 . . . I went from a mild sore throat to life support [in two days] . . . The book is about the disease, the treatment and the family story, and about my recovery.” Elisabeth Tully, Director of the OWH Library and the faculty advisor for the Philomathean Society, will spend the year learning about copyright laws and developing a course in speech and debate. She said, “The academy has been working on the complicated issue of assuring that all materials used in our educational programs are copyright-compliant. The library has been involved in the discussions and will play a central role in the process that we implement. This is a very complex area, and even copyright lawyers can’t always give you a complete answer. So, next year I’ll be taking [four] distance education courses through the University of Maryland Intellectual Property Center to build my own base of knowledge . . . to support the process.” In addition to the two academic projects, Tully will be taking on a “some personal challenge.” Tully said, “I am going to do a lot of long-distance bicycle riding [including three trips with my husband]. In the Spring Term, I’ll be part of a group called Womantours on a cross-country . . . bicycle ride [from San Diego to St. Augustine].” Odden said, “I’m thankful that the school gives these sabbaticals; it’s a great opportunity for development. I’m really pleased about it.”
