While study abroad is increasingly popular among students in the United States (IIE 2007), tenure track faculty involvement with these programs has not kept up with demand. University and college-run programs often struggle to find sufficient numbers of tenure track faculty, especially junior faculty, to staff their programs. While older faculty may view their own participation as instructors on a study abroad program as an opportunity to travel and to interact with students differently than they would on the home campus, junior faculty frequently perceive study abroad as something which must wait until after receiving tenure. While much has been written about the positive aspects of study abroad for students, there is a smaller literature on the benefits of study abroad for faculty, and especially junior faculty. Using a Macalester College-Pomona College-Swarthmore College sponsored program at the University of Cape Town as a case study, this article outlines how study abroad opportunities may be leveraged in support of the research imperatives of junior faculty, as a mechanism for encouraging student-faculty research collaborations, as a vehicle for exploring collaboration with non-US faculty, and a joyful opportunity for sharing one's place-based knowledge. This article is a review of the author's own involvement in a study abroad program as a junior faculty member. Given the variety of pressures faced by junior faculty at top tier liberal arts colleges, the author stresses that proper planning and the strategic choice of a study abroad program can lead to a win-win situation for faculty and students. (Contains 1 note.)