Santa Monica College full-time instructors from six different disciplines will be going on sabbatical next semester. The Sabbatical and Fellowship Committee of the Academic Senate, which is chaired by Dr. Loring Emile, approved the sabbaticals.
Sabbaticals are an aspect of the post-secondary teaching process.
They are granted after a teacher has been at an institution for a mandated period of time, and are to be used by the faculty for further education in their field. Teachers remain on the college payroll at full salary while on leave, and their classes are taught by part-time faculty. The SMC professors who will be going on sabbatical are Daniel Cano and Cathy Long of the English department, Larry Ceplair of Social Science, Maria Erickson of Modern Language, Patricia Halliday of Business, Jackie Lanum of Behavioral Studies and William Selby of Earth Science. The variety of what these SMC professors will be doing on their sabbaticals speaks to the enormous diversity within the teaching ranks of the college. Long will be working with Native Americans in cities and reservations to archive the stories and dances of the Cherokee, Winnebago, Oneida, and possibly the Lakota.