Access to professional development opportunities is a hallmark of most all career-oriented positions in almost any multi-tiered organization. In the corporate world, managers are always looking for the ambitious within their ranks to excel at their duties and to look ahead for more responsibility, better skill sets, and the idea that where they are now is not where they want to be in the future. Built into the culture of a healthy working environment are opportunities to learn new skills, take on more tasks, and/or assume more duties than the current job description. And the truly constructive and nurturing work environments even provide temporary relief from current duties in order to seek new skills and abilities. The dual reasons of (1) it is good for the individual to keep from going stale in one's job (and one's mind?), to the notion that (2) it is good for an organization if its workers want to ascend the corporate ladder, provide a sort-of win-win scenario of aiding both the worker and the organization. Facilitating the ability of workers to strive for more in their lives and careers, while adding an efficiency to the system whereby as managers leave positions, others can step in immediately to take their place, would seem a no-brainer, really. Workers with a healthy growth (personal and corporate) mindset add value to the organization when that mindset is met with avenues to put that growth mindset into practice.
One can easily say that providing access to promotions within an organization is vital to the morale of an organization. But the idea of providing access to promotion must also include providing access to the opportunities to advance one's skill sets and provide the means to attain the skills necessary for that next level. Providing a promotion structure without the opportunities to develop oneself professionally means not providing any meaningful access to promotion. An organization set up that way inhibits growth, stifles morale, and undercuts the productivity of its workers.
Within the Academy, the idea of providing time away from the typical duties of faculty so that members can take the time to focus on research, or other professional growth activities, has been encoded into the profession: the sabbatical. Offered in a timely fashion as earned over an interval of years, it provides the space needed to explore new research opportunities, visit other places without the burden of home duties of service and teaching, and generally to achieve relief of the things taxing one's time for the benefit of the person's professional health and well-being. It is a benefit to the organization to offer its members periods of time off from their constant contributions to the day-to-day operations of the organization, so that the members can develop themselves professionally, turn a job into a career, stay fresh and up-to-date and contributory within their discipline, and make their name a part of the conversation in the various circles outside of the local academy.
So why is this vital and beneficial practice only afforded to the 60% or so faculty here that are Tenure-line? Why do TRT faculty, striving for promotion within the teaching or research ranks, looking for ways to professionally develop themselves, see no way to find relief from their high teaching loads and advising duties? Why is there no way to solicit this relief from the Chairs and the Deans, allowing TRT faculty to visit other places, write a book, direct or produce a movie, or go on that dig (digs cannot come to the university, eh?) How are they to build their career into the fabric of their professional discipline when they are faced with no relief from their 100% effort herein, semester-in and semester-out?
I have been the direct receiver of the response to this question, "Well, that is what summer is for, right?"
Hardly....
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