Resumen de Becoming a scholar: everything I needed to know I learned on sabbatical

Steven Maranville

• The essence of being a faculty member is to be a scholar. And, the work of a scholar is to think. However, the demands of academic life correlated with mid-career concerns can form a distraction away from this essential activity. As such, the goal of this essay is to discuss matters of professional development for tenured business professors at teaching-oriented universities. These faculty members are at particular risk of a career plateau accompanied by diminished productivity and satisfaction. Employing autoethnographic methods, the author reflects on his personal experience and posits initiatives for career revitalization, positing that professional development is vital at this career stage. The essay postulates that professional development begins with the creation of a thinking agenda that defines the scholar’s field of study and the particular projects to be studied. The author concludes by stating that neither teaching nor publishing is the essence of a self-actualized faculty member; rather, teaching and publishing are channels for the knowledge work of the scholar.