When the syllabus arrived in my email with the Anglo-American University logo and my name as an instructor at the top, I finally realized it was true… I’m going to be teaching college students in Prague this fall.

Thus my CandaceInPrague.com blog is back.

Of course this didn’t happen overnight. To get a sabbatical – technically a Professional Improvement Leave – requires applying the previous fall. As 6-12.101 of Kent State’s Policy Register says, “Full-timed tenured faculty … can apply in their seventh year….” Yadda yadda yadda.

And it’s not just a vacation. This must be related to the faculty member’s “professional growth and development” and “benefit both the individual and the university.” Mine will surely do all that and more.

So, next Tuesday, Aug. 25, I’ll depart for the Czech Republic with a larger suitcase than I’ve ever used and an AirBnB apartment I’ve never seen waiting for me. I plan to teach “Media & Shaping Public Opinion” to 15 BA and 3 MA students, though there may be more, and we meet Wednesday nights from 6:30 – 9:15 p.m. I’ll teach until fall break Oct. 26 and a regular lecturer I met there in 2013, my co-instructor, will take over for the rest of the semester.

I have a desk and work space and will be able to coach some Reporting 1 students. I also plan to conduct research about how those students decided on their course of study, similar to something I did last spring at Kent State. If we want the best and the brightest in media, we have to know how to attract them.

And I expect to walk a lot and see all the things I’ve missed on previous stays in this gorgeous City of 100 Spires. When I first bicycled into Prague in 1990, not that long after the Soviets left, I knew I would be back more than once. This will be my fifth and longest stay. Let’s see what it has in store for me. Whatever it is, I’ll write about it here. Please come along on the journey.