Although Associate Professor of African American Studies Renee Romano is not teaching classes this semester, her sabbatical is by no means a vacation from work.
Romano is spending her leave working on multiple projects, though her focus has been on her new book. Tentatively titled, “Racial Reckonings: Trials, Truth Commissions, and other Efforts at Racial Reconciliation in the New South,” the book focuses on the re-trying of murder cases during the Civil Rights era in the South.
“Sabbaticals are vital to the intellectual growth of faculty,” Romano wrote in an e-mail. “They give us time and space to work on our research, to learn new fields, and to develop materials for new courses.”
In addition to research and writing, Romano has also found herself in somewhat of a role reversal, taking graduate level courses in the Museum Studies Certificate Program at Tufts University, to receive her certificate in Museum Studies.
“I got interested in learning more about museums when I taught a class on historical memory and we spent four weeks studying how the past is represented in history museums,” she said.
With whatever time she has left, Romano works at home, and occasionally travels to present papers, do research and attend conferences.
Associate Professor of History Magda Teter is staying just as busy during her time away from the University.
“Sabbatical is not time off, it is time off teaching but not a time I consider free,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I usually have a plan of what I want to accomplish.”
Teter’s goal for this sabbatical is to write half of her new book on the subject of sacrilege.
“The book will reexamine the anti-Jewish accusations, especially that of host desecration, and situate them within a broader context of criminality and crime – most specifically that of sacrilege, a legal category of crime at the time,” she said.
Discussing her current sabbatical activities, Teter drew parallels between herself and the many seniors currently working on senior theses.
“Writing is a long and difficult process that involves research, writing, reflecting, rewriting, getting stuck, finding solutions, revising, offering the work to colleagues for critique, revising,” she said. “All this is perfectly normal, and if they leave enough time for all this, the thesis writing process will be much more pleasant.”
While Teter and Romano are spending their sabbaticals away from the University, Associate Professor of Chemistry Michael Calter is spending his semester on campus to enable him to work with students.
“[I’m] working with a group of research students, both undergraduates and graduate students, and they are continuing on with projects that they started at various times,” he said.
Calter focuses on directing research with the students, writing up research papers and writing grants proposals to get funding for some of the projects.
All of the professors agreed that being on sabbatical helps faculty to develop different skills that will then enrich their teaching when they return.
“The University has a wonderful sabbatical policy that helps faculty maintain their intellectual vitality, enables us to produce our scholarship, and that is attractive to job candidates when they are considering whether to take a job at Wes,” Romano said.
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