Sabbatical leaves can be vital tool to the development of a school’s curriculum and in the evolution of the college’s overall mission.
Recently four Cerritos College teachers were approved for sabbatical leaves for the 2017-18 school year.
President Jose Fierro said, “It’s a combination of factors if the sabbatical is aligned with the goals of the institution– it should be a benefit for everyone.”
He said that professors come back refreshed and with new, current knowledge to deliver to the students.
Kimberly Duff, psychology professor; Frank Gaik, English professor; Patty George, mathematics professor; and Lance Kayser, English professor are the faculty members who will be participating in sabbatical leaves.
All four of the teachers will take an academic year to achieve “intellectual refreshment.”
Stated in the Discretionary Education Code Section 87767, intellectual refreshment will be achieved through study, work experience, research, travel or other creative activities.
During her sabbatical leave, Duff plans to create a sustainable database of former psychology students that are currently working in the field. After which she will create a web-based resource for current students to facilitate their success in pursuing a career psychology career.
Gaik, whose leave will include extensive research into new linguistic discoveries said, “Being a project leader for an Equity Committee grant in the power of global literature to teach intercultural competence helped me recognize gaps in my understanding of students with special backgrounds.”
He said his research will particularly focus on how new linguistic discoveries can aid the English Department faculty in “better teaching remedial writing, advanced composition and global literature.”
In a summary of his proposal, given to the board of trustees it, stated the research will focus mainly on the area of linguistics most relevant to the Cerritos College population.
This will include: first and second language acquisition; bilingual and multilingual learning; varieties of conversational style among genders, abilities, and cultural backgrounds; and intercultural competence in various discourse communities.
Kayser, another English professor, will hope to bring awareness to the struggles of the LGBT community, and to empower allies of the community to be advocates for equality and change in our society.
According to his proposal letter summary given to the board, the ultimate goal of his sabbatical is to create a 18-unit LGBT studies certificate program, and that it may bring more legitimacy to the LGBT studies as an academic program.
The program will include two new courses, first being an Intro to the LGBT Studies class that will explore the historical representations of queer individuals who contributed to society and LGBT rights.
The second class will be a queer literature class that will study the representation of queer characters and experiences in literature. It will also analyze the style and biographies of queer authors.
As a mathematics professor, George will survey, and research, summer and internship programs targeting STEM undergraduate students.
She said, “I am excited to begin exploring STEM internship and research programs that are open to Cerritos College student.”
