The purpose of this procedure is to outline the college’s position on those faculty leaves that fall outside the University’s policies on sabbatical leaves and leaves for health and family care. Specifically, these guidelines relate to requests by tenured, tenure-track, and fixed-term multiyear faculty members for leaves for special professional opportunities.
It is recognized that special professional opportunities arise from time to time that benefit faculty development, and, in the case of tenured faculty members, these opportunities sometimes present themselves off-cycle from sabbatical leave eligibility.
The benefits to the college that can be realized from granting leaves for special professional opportunities must be weighed against their direct and indirect costs.
Direct costs associated with such leaves are primarily recruitment costs (sometimes offset by the higher teaching load of the replacement fixed-term I position).
Indirect costs include disruptions to course scheduling and academic program delivery, and faculty members and administrative time and energy. Also, these leaves come at the cost of achieving the college’s goal of delivering more coursework with full-time and especially tenure-track faculty members.
The decision to award a leave for a special professional opportunity is ultimately a judgment that weighs the benefits and costs of granting such a leave. Given the costs, it is expected that approvals of such requests would be infrequent.
Requests for such leaves must be made in writing to the appropriate school director and to the chancellor, with appropriate rationale provided, at least six calendar months in advance. It is anticipated that such leaves would have major career impacts, accrue substantial benefits to the school and the college, and that the associated project could not be undertaken without such a leave. In the case of fixed-term multiyear faculty member, a request cannot be made during the first term of appointment.
Related Policies:
November 26, 2003
Revised July 1, 2005
Revised July 27, 2015