Since 1991, I’ve been a full-time law professor.  But that’s changing now. I’ve entered a voluntary phased retirement program at Suffolk University Law School in downtown Boston, where I’ve been teaching since 1994.  Starting with the current academic year, I’m on a half-time teaching schedule, and will remain so for the following two academic years. Although I may continue to teach on a very part-time basis after that, I am concluding my full-time employment as a law professor.

Although I still enjoy teaching our wonderful students at Suffolk, I’m delighted to be transitioning into a busy and fulfilling semi-retirement. I’ll be engaging in a variety of lifelong learning and cultural enrichment activities, volunteer service on various non-profit boards and advisory committees, and ongoing aspects of my long-time work. I’ll also do hobbies and spend more time with people dear to me.

As part of this transition, I’m looking at how my various learning and related activities are shaping up. Here’s how things are looking for now:

Great Books and Great Ideas

In 2024, I completed the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults, offered since 1946 by the University of Chicago’s Graham School for Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies. As I wrote earlier on this blog:

The Basic Program is an open enrollment, non-credit, four-year sequence of courses featuring the close reading and discussion of what have been called the Great Books. It starts with works by ancient Greek philosophers and poets and proceeds to examine other canonical authors and works of the Western tradition.

The Basic Program experience was so meaningful, both intellectually and personally, that I’ve continued to take elective courses and course sequences at Graham. Right now I’m enrolled in a series of courses titled “The End(s) of Humanity,” which use the lens of the humanities to consider existential crises such as climate change and the nuclear threat.

And by adding a service component, I’m jumping into this U of Chicago thing with both feet. Last year, I accepted an invitation to join the Graham Council, a volunteer body appointed by the University’s board of trustees that supports the Graham School and provides input and feedback to its administrators and faculty. And in the fall, I was interviewed for a video commemorating the upcoming 80th anniversary of the Basic Program and participated in a panel discussion on the value of reading Great Books.

I now regard the Graham School as a vital long-term home base for my lifelong learning activities. My service role with Graham also enables me to support the liberal arts and humanities generally. In sum, this has become an enormously enriching and satisfying association.

Singing

“I am passionate about . . . ” is probably one of the most overused expressions of our day. But dear reader, I am truly passionate about singing as a very meaningful, fun, and healthy hobby and pastime.

Since 1995, I’ve taken a weekly singing workshop with the same instructor, Jane Eichkern, first at the Boston Center for Adult Education, now at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Taught in a supportive, encouraging small class format, it has been a place of learning, fun, and fellowship. It has been part of the rhythm of my life, going back to my first year in Boston. I have not missed enrolling in a term since I first signed up.

During recent years, I’ve become a big karaoke enthusiast as well. My go-to venue is the main stage at VIVA Karaoke & Studios in Boston’s Theatre District. Before the pandemic, I had become a regular at VIVA’s predecessor, Limelight Karaoke. When they reopened under the VIVA name, I returned and have kept returning.

I love singing the old standards, also referred to as the Great American Songbook. Songs popularized by the likes of Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, and others are among my favorites. (If you’re on Facebook, you can check out three of these croonings here, here, and here!)

I harbor enormously modest singing ambitions: I want to be a great karaoke singer. That’s it! I’ve resisted suggestions to expand my vistas by seeking out a choral group or local theatre company to join. Voice class and karaoke are my happy places.

History

I have been an amateur student of history going back to grade school. This next chapter of my life will allow me more time to steep myself in learning about and understanding our past. Fortunately, I live in a city that is simply steeped in history. Among other things, Boston played significant roles in the American Revolution and in the anti-slavery movement that led into the American Civil War. The city is a casebook of early Americana.

I’m forging a very rewarding connection to the world of history via my service on the board of directors of Revolutionary Spaces, Inc., a Boston-based non-profit institution. Rev. Spaces stewards two nationally significant historic sites — the Old South Meeting House and the Old State House, both located in downtown Boston — and offers public education exhibits, tours, and programs about U.S. history, democracy, and freedom of speech. I began attending Rev. Spaces events in 2023. I was so impressed by the quality of programs and staff there that I basically enthused my way onto the board.

These on-site opportunities join with hundreds of books about history that are part of my personal library, many of which await my semi-retirement. With a bit of luck and good health, the upcoming years will allow me to satisfy more of my history geek leanings.

Non-Scholarly Writing Projects

I’m looking forward to doing more non-scholarly writing during the years to come. This includes social media contributions and articles for periodicals.

In addition, I want to explore some non-traditional venues. Before I began my teaching career, I was very drawn to the world of zines — little magazines and short booklets, often self-published — and imagined myself someday publishing in that mode. Well, the publication expectations of academe took over at that point, to the extent that even serious blogging (of which I’ve done a ton) isn’t considered to be academic writing by many people in this business.

But with my schedule becoming more flexible, I’m starting to explore what continues to be a thriving zine world. Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time with offerings from Microcosm Publishing, and I’ve got several ideas for zine writing that might be interesting to some readers out there.

Legacy Work

Finally, although I will no longer be a full-time law professor, I will remain professionally active in focal areas that have shaped my academic work for decades, such as workplace bullying, employee safety and dignity, and therapeutic jurisprudence.

This will include advocating for the enactment of workplace anti-bullying laws in the U.S., engaging in research, writing, and public education projects about creating healthier workplaces, and supporting the evolution of the law through innovative frameworks such as therapeutic jurisprudence. You may read more about my work at my Minding the Workplace blog, which I have been writing since 2008, and download many of my scholarly writings without fee from my Social Science Research Network page.

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When I began thinking hard about what I would like this next chapter of my life to look like, lifelong learning naturally emerged as a recurring theme. The common thread that ties together so many of these activities is a commitment to learning and education, both for me and for others. I’m very much looking forward to it all.