At MVNU, professors are both able and encouraged to take sabbaticals for a multitude of reasons. These reasons could include but are not limited to, rest, pursuing new research and/or exploring new academic interests. Dr. Bossley, associate professor of biology, stated that he “pursued a sabbatical for all of those reasons.” 

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Dr. Bossley had a couple of adventure projects he journeyed on throughout his sabbatical. The first was a trip that involved on-the-ground research in Israel and Egypt to develop a new curriculum for a new MVNU travel-abroad course entitled “Ecology of the Holy Land.” He shared that this specific project involved “two separate trips to the Holy Land (one in January and another in May) to study the wildlife, geology, geography and history of the land.” There, he lived and studied among other students and adventurers at Jerusalem University College, which is located on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. While he did a lot of research there, he also stated that he had time to sightsee many famous biblical event sites as well. 

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For his other sabbatical trip, he traveled to Belize and Guatemala to continue work on a research project of his on the birds of the Mayan world. He stated that he was joined alongside Dr. Dan Mosher, who is a retired MVNU environmental biology professor. Dr. Bossley said that the primary goal of this project was to “develop a field guide on the birds that inhabit Central America and include the Mayan names for the birds in the book. In this regard, the book will provide taxonomic and ecological information but also contribute to language and culture preservation.” 

 

There was some time between these two trips, but Dr. Bossley kept himself busy while at home. During this time, he worked on a manuscript with Grace Brubaker, who is a 2021 graduate of the MVNU environmental biology program and was a part of the honors program. He said that the results of her honor’s project “Establishing water willow in the Kokosing River” was accepted for publication in the respected ecological journal Northeast Naturalist. He had this to say about Grace’s accomplishment – “It is exciting to see research conducted here at MVNU published in the scientific literature.”

 

Dr. Bossley added why sabbaticals are important to him and his fellow professors. He said, “The sabbatical experience provides a great opportunity for professors to pursue research, develop curriculum for new courses, take a break from the normal busyness of academia, experience life from different perspectives and seek God. All of this is ultimately helpful in the classroom, too, as it provides new pictures I can incorporate into presentations and new stories I can share with students, which helps to enrich the class experience.”