Why and How to Spend a Sabbatical in Industry

We believe that more Computing faculty should spend some time in industry in order to experience for themselves the types of jobs their students are likely to take at graduation and throughout their careers. Each panelist has spent at least one sabbatical in industry and found the experience to be far more beneficial than anticipated. We all found that our sabbatical experiences helped us to (1) develop our skills, (2) discover and practice the skills that are currently being used in industry, (3) gain credibility with our students, (4) improve our understanding of the computing profession beyond software development, and (5) build relationships with local businesses. Many of us returned to the classroom thinking "I can't believe they let me teach college without any industry experience".