100% agree, Raven! In my case, my job is based in one department, but the teaching and research I do transcends several disciplines and serves all of campus (and beyond). I'm curious how it works in @astrobiologiste.bsky.social's department/programs, given the courses are required there.

Very cool! If you're willing to connect, I'm leading a study right now on instructor experiences re #scicomm. We're looking at several aspects of this via this study: www.scicommlift.com

The successful applicant will contribute to and/or lead research efforts associated with a nationwide survey and scicomm training interventions.

Job details here: eeik.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid....

Scicomm LIFT details here: www.scicommlift.com

/end

The successful candidate will join an NSF-funded, multi-institutional, research team (1) studying grad students’ ability to communicate science effectively & ethically, and (2) working to equip faculty and staff to overcome barriers that prevent training in disciplinary science graduate programs. 2/

Would love to hear more about how this is managed wrt teaching loads, expertise of instructors, credit requirements for students, etc. We find in our research that these systemic issues are frequently the barrier (more than interest).

We agree, Dr. Baxter! My angle on this is leading a research study right now to more fully understand barriers and to test interventions that could inform nationwide adoption of #scicomm training. If you're interested 👉👉https://www.scicommlift.com/

In case you're also looking for a brief-but-profound tool for focus *and connection*, I've written up a short note about how I understand the practice and what I'm getting from it. 👉https://buff.ly/TcGHXdI /end

#academia #highered #focus #writing #creativity #academicsky #scicomm

And, after years of doing it daily, I've noticed (pun!) meaningful benefits that are similar to what gratitude practices usually offer. 4/

I've never been able to get into things like gratitude journals, but I do find *object meditation* really super helpful. It's more involved than I thought when I first heard the name/label, but not time consuming. 3/

And, as I’ve mentioned a few times, I was diagnosed with ADHD at 38, which contributes another whole level of considerations to the question of focus.

In any case, focusing is an on-going project of mine. 2/

Over the years, I've collected a fair pile of sources for high-quality images to share with students & colleagues, esp. those who ask me about where to find accurate, science-focused clip art. (Don't knock it--clip art is useful for a lot of reasons!) So, here's my current list: buff.ly/c6LHmGG /end

(And stay tuned; I plan to update the series as my sabbatical progresses.)

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*Note from first post in thread: technically, non-tenure-track faculty at my institution get "professional development leave," not sabbaticals. Ahem. /end

I wound up tackling all of these questions with zero guidance. And, I think that should change. So, I wrote a mini-series about what I found. You might be especially interested in my analysis of a 10-year dataset of approved sabbaticals. Find the whole series here: buff.ly/AmslXc8 4/

2. What kind of email auto-reply policy and wording is okay (especially given the contingent nature of my position)?

3. What insights can be gleaned from reviewing the proposal summaries of folks at my institution who did get approved for sabbatical? 3/

But, applying for a sabbatical posed dilemmas I didn't anticipate. I found myself with three major questions:

1. Why isn't there any advice online about sabbaticals, esp not on framing apps, dealing w/ on-going, unrelated collaborations, navigating social capital of sabbatical planning, etc!?! 2/