Sabbatical Leave

Sabbatical leaves are awards available to tenured members of the faculty who submit convincing evidence of conducting scholarly or other appropriate endeavors on released time which will advance their own professional standing and, upon their return to the University, enrich their teaching and research. Because many faculty members are interested, eligibility is limited to tenured associate professors or professors with at least 12 terms of full-time service. Part-time service, such as summer teaching which is not part of the basic contractual responsibility, is not counted in determining eligibility. Leaves of absence do not count as credit toward sabbatical eligibility. Periods of time that a tenured faculty member might work on a reduced effort basis will be prorated.

Sabbatical leaves are available for librarians with expectations of continued employment, under the same terms as for tenured faculty.

Sabbatical leaves may be approved for either a full appointment year at one-half salary, or one-half the appointment year at full salary. The annual vacation of faculty on 12-month appointments who choose a full appointment year at one-half salary is included in the sabbatical leave. Faculty members taking one-half of the appointment year at full salary are expected to meet one-half of their annual teaching and departmental duties during the remaining half of the year. During the sabbatical leave, the University will continue to pay its share of the premiums for medical, life and disability insurances. Faculty members continue as participants in the retirement option in which they are enrolled, subject to the provisions of the plan. Contributions are based on the actual contract salary received from the University during the sabbatical.

Individuals who are granted sabbatical leaves at full salary should not accept teaching assignments at other institutions, although exceptions may be made. In accepting the award of a sabbatical leave, the faculty member agrees to submit a brief report to his or her dean or campus president within one term of return from leave, summarizing the sabbatical activities and indicating the extent to which the purposes of the leave described in the proposal were achieved. At the conclusion of the sabbatical leave, individuals are expected to return to the University for at least one full appointment year.

There are no fixed quotas by school, campus, or department; however, the granting of a sabbatical leave depends on the unit's ability to maintain necessary teaching schedules, either by reallocation of work among other faculty or, in rare cases, with justification through temporary replacements.

Sabbatical leaves are approved by the Provost. Applications should be forwarded to the Provost for approval before December 1 of the academic year preceding the desired period of leave. Each application should include a prospectus of the projected scholarly or other appropriate activity and a statement of the requested time period of the leave. The application should carry the endorsements of the appropriate department chair and dean or campus president, and in the area of the Health Sciences, the Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences.

For additional information, refer to Sabbatical Leave AC 58 (formerly 02-05-01).