The King's Connection Magazine Volume 24 // Number 1 | Page 18

FEATURED ARTICLE

EXPLORING ALL DIMENSIONS OF OUR WORLD

Faculty sabbaticals bring
research excellence to King’s
By Kealy Litun, Marketing Coordinator

D

eveloping a theatrical play, creating a musical composition
for choir, upgrading the King’s Observatory, writing a
university chemistry textbook, researching the role of spirituality
in the work place, and hosting a support group for homeless
fathers in the inner city. Each is the result work done by a
King’s faculty member during a sabbatical. Derived from the
word ‘Sabbath’ and defined as a break or change from the
normal routine, a sabbatical for a professor at King’s offers the
opportunity to focus on specific scholarly projects resulting in
deep exploration in an area of study. “The 2012-13 sabbatical
cohort exemplifies the expert level and academic depth
of scholarly projects achieved by King’s faculty,” says

Vice-President Academic DR. HANK BESTMAN.
“The establishment of an undergraduate research institution
focused on excellence in teaching, learning and scholarship
was one of the guiding principles when King’s was established
in 1979. Continued support for faculty sabbaticals upholds
this hallmark value of ‘creative and critical pursuit of knowledge
and wisdom.’”
In 2012-13, DR. BRIAN MARTIN (Astronomy & Physics),
DR. CHARLES STOLTE (Music), DANIEL VAN HEYST
(Art & Drama), DR. DAVID LONG (Sociology), DR. ELDEN
WIEBE (Commerce) and DR. PETER MAHAFFY (Chemistry)
each completed a sabbatical term.

EXCELLENCE IN SCHOLARSHIP
King’s faculty made 253 scholarly contributions during the
2012-13 academic year, including the contributions made by
faculty on sabbatical. Scholarly contributions include academic
publications, books, textbooks, artistic works, and academic
conference presentations. These projects not only benefit the
King’s community, but reach out into the global community.
“Together with collaborators in Australia, we developed a
first-year chemistry text book and electronic resources that
will be used by universities and colleges in Canada and
internationally,” says Dr. Peter Mahaffy of the Science faculty.
“Faculty and students from different departments bring King’s

16 /// The King’s Connection /// Summer 2014

high quality academic scholarship to serve the global community
through presentations, performances, and partnerships with
researchers from around the world.”
Collaborative, relationship-building techniques are present in
many research projects that saw professors working with their
counterparts at institutions - both Christian and non-Christian throughout Canada and the world.
For Drama and Art Professor Daniel van Heyst, collaborations
with professional theatre artists resulted in a held-over hit
presentation of Freud`s Last Session, written by Mark St.
Germain, at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. The
play was also presented at King’s fall 2013 Interdisciplinary
Studies Conference, the Conference on Christian Scholarship
and the Fine Arts at Concordia University College in March, and
will be presented for ten performances this coming summer at
Chemainus Festival Theatre on Vancouver Island.
Dr. Bestman notes that these collaborations encourage faculty
to stay current: “King’s faculty are not teaching something from
20 years ago, they are teaching what is happening in their
field today.”

ENGAGEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM
Each faculty member who has gone on sabbatical returns to
campus with deeper insight into their field of study. In most
cases, the benefits flow, either directly or indirectly, into their
classroom work with students. Dr. Elden Wiebe in the Commerce
faculty is currently using portions of his research on spirituality
in the workplace to encourage classroom discussion.
In the case of projects conducted by Dr. Mahaffy and Dr. Brian
Martin, they worked closely with student researchers through
King’s Center for Visualization in Science, researching and
developing online educational tools to explain climate change
and to encourage the responsible use of chemical substances
and raise awareness of mis \