Provost's Sabbatical Luncheon

Tuesday, March 6 - RSVP by Friday, March 2.

This is a served luncheon; please indicate vegetarian if desired. 11:45-1:15 - Black Ballroom

Phyllis Larson, Professor of Japanese and Asian Studies
Bruce Nordstrom-Loeb, Associate Professor of Sociology

On behalf of Jim May, Provost and Dean of the College, CILA announces the Spring 2007 "Provost's Sabbatical Series" Luncheon.

The Provost's Sabbatical Series recognizes the wide range of impressive and fascinating sabbatical projects in which our faculty are engaged. Each semester, the Provost invites two faculty members to give short presentations about their scholarly/professional work in a manner accessible to a general audience. In addition, presenters comment on what they did to plan and prepare for their leaves, and on how they have managed the transition back to the classroom (including ways in which they have integrated their sabbatical work with their teaching). Presenters are chosen to highlight the diversity of sabbatical projects from recent faculty leaves.

Phyllis Larson's sabbatical work was in two parts. One was language pedagogy, including a summer workshop on videogames at Middlebury College, studying Chinese on her own in Northfield, and a month of study with a tutor in Shanghai. The second part, a project called "China in the Japanese Imagination," focused on the friendship of the Chinese writer Lu Xun and the Japanese bookseller Uchiyama Kanzo in wartime Shanghai.

The main theme of Bruce Nordstrom-Loeb's sabbatical work was on GLBT issues. His primary focus was to plan a new course, GLBT Lives and Issues (SoAn 246) , which he taught for the first time in Interim 2007. He also presented a paper on connections between evangelical Christianity and GLBT issues at the Midwest Sociology meeting in Omaha in March. Bruce also took the opportunity to catch up on his reading, including novels, much of which has fed into his various courses.

If you would like to attend this special luncheon to hear Phyllis's and Bruce's presentations and to discuss their projects - and sabbatical leaves in general - please RSVP by return email no later than this Friday, March 2, including vegetarian or other dietary requirement.