Historian Rawiri Taonui says heavy workloads and a desire to write have inspired him to break out of academia.
Mr Taonui has quit as head of Maori and ethnic studies at Canterbury University after a decade in which he built the school from a small department to one of the largest in the country.
Waatea News reports he's leaving with a year left on his contract.
One of his first pieces of writing is a submission to the Maori Affairs Select Committee on the Marine and Coastal Area Bill.