Potential Advisors, Tenure and Sabbatical

[fauxtog]

does anyone know how often faculty go on sabbatical? once every 4-5 years? once every 8 years?

if the faculty member who you want to be your adviser will be going on sabbatical at some point in your time in the program, when would be the ideal time for them to be gone? i've heard 1st-2nd year isn't a big deal but 3rd through 5th year it's critical to have them around.

thoughts? anecdotes? anyone facing this same question in trying to figure out which program to attend? how is it influencing your decision?

thanks!

[fuzzylogician]

It never factored into my decision, first of all because professors in my field don't usually disappear (go on field trips or such like) when they are on sabbatical. If they stay in town, they continue to meet with students, and even if not, they still read their advisees' work. Second of all, at my school you don't have a single main advisor -- you're supposed to work with everyone on your committee, so even if one member is away for a while, you're not stuck. I suppose it becomes more critical if a particular faculty member is away during the 4th and 5th years, when you're dissertating and might require help from a person with particular expertise at some point along the way. Our 3rd year is for qualifying papers, for which we have separate committees that are planned so their members are actually there while you're writing, so it's not too bad if someone is away.

I do think that these are questions you need to consider:

- What happens to advisees when their advisor is away - is it possible to go with them to wherever they went for the semester (if they are visiting another school)?

- Does your advisor (I assume you have someone specific in mind) keep in touch with disserating students while away (ask them, ask their students).

- Are there other sources in the department that could help you while your advisor is away? Other professors with similar interests are always a good thing to have in your department.

These are all legitimate question to ask a potential advisor.

[Tall Chai Latte]

Yes second to fuzzy. I haven't run into this situation yet, so I don't know how is it going to affect my decision. But based on what I experienced at work, it's important to make sure that your adviser will keep in touch, whether via email/phone/skype, on various aspect of your graduate career. You might need him to read over your candidacy paper, or might need answers to your questions. I've seen how the grad students in my lab started to panic when my boss went out of contact on his sabbatical leave (one needed to pass candidacy, one needed to get his dissertation in)... not a good feeling at all. In fact, I had personal experience with it when I was doing my honors thesis during last year of undergrad. I had to email/skype my boss like a stalker to make sure he edit my draft. It turned out that he took a little vacation to Australia (TallChai I'm petting koalas and kangaroos... It's hard to edit your thesis at the same time) while I got very, very antsy as defense day drew closer....

I did my undergrad in biochemistry. In science, I think sabbatical leave occurs every 7 years. Other science folks can correct me on that.

Edited February 16, 2010 by TallChai

[UnlikelyGrad]

I did my undergrad in biochemistry. In science, I think sabbatical leave occurs every 7 years. Other science folks can correct me on that.

You're right--at least for chemistry, which is the field I have most experience in (both as a chemist and as the daughter of a chemist). My advisor is applying for sabbatical for next year. Luckily, it's early in the game for me AND I have a couple of "supporting advisors" who will be there to pick up the slack. But I imagine we'll get the first paper written via email.

[rising_star]

Yea, I didn't consider it. My advisor is gong on sabbatical next year and it's really not a big deal. But, it didn't factor into my decision to come here at all, in part because my advisor is getting his first sabbatical in his 10+ year university teaching career.

Typically, you get a sabbatical either right before or right after getting tenure.

[jacib]

Yea, I didn't consider it. My advisor is gong on sabbatical next year and it's really not a big deal. But, it didn't factor into my decision to come here at all, in part because my advisor is getting his first sabbatical in his 10+ year university teaching career.

Typically, you get a sabbatical either right before or right after getting tenure.

My old man gets a sabbatical every seven years (it's from the Bible... same root as "sabbath", if you can make the connection) and I think that's the way it always is. It is only for tenured professors. It's quite common for professors to delay it a year or two or three for various reasons, so it's not actually every seven years necessarily. It's six months full pay or one year half pay, so even if they take a sabbatical, it might only be half the year for your adviser, depending. Many people (I'd imagine especially in the sciences) stay in town. I had to track one of my recommenders down because he was on leave... the department secretary didn't initially realize he as on leave because he was still around the university's neighborhood, coming in to check his mail and what not. One of my friend's PhD advisers was fired at the beginning of what was going to be his last year... he had to stay on an extra year, work in a new lab, redo a lot of research, but even that only added a year (and he had to change his entire project).

[fauxtog]

thanks to everyone for the input!