Sabbatical Leaves

Eligibility

According to University guidelines, faculty members must complete 12 terms of service in order to become eligible for a one-term sabbatical leave at full pay or a two-term sabbatical leave at half pay.

While the above policy is carefully adhered to within the Dietrich School, common practice has been to allow for a modification in the case of faculty members on 12-month appointments: upon the completion of 18 terms of service, such a faculty member is eligible for a 6-month sabbatical leave at full pay or a 12-month sabbatical leave at half pay. In cases where the faculty member is on a twelve-month contract and is granted a six-month sabbatical leave, he/she must complete one-half of their normal teaching load in the remainder of the academic year.

Leave Requests

Each request for a sabbatical leave should be submitted to the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs (Todd Reeser via Perceptive Content and assigned to Sara Abbott) and should contain the following materials:

1. The original written request made by the faculty member to the Department Chair, which should clearly state:

• which type of leave is being requested (e.g. sabbatical leave at full pay or sabbatical leave at half pay),
• the period of the leave (start date, end date),
• a brief description of the project which the faculty member intends to work on during the leave period,
• the relevance of that project to the research/teaching activities of the faculty member,
• where the leave will be spent,
• on what contingencies, if any, the realization of the leave depends. (e.g., approval of fellowship application)

2. A cover letter from the Department Chair, which should clearly state:

• The Department Chair's written approval of the faculty member's request
• Department’s plan to handle each of the faculty member's courses and/or departmental responsibilities during their absence. Which will be dropped? Which reassigned? To whom? At what cost? Please be as specific as you can
• Any additional relevant information concerning the individual or the department which should be considered before granting official approval of this request. In order for you to be able to assess the department's ability to meet its teaching obligations, you should try to deal with all of the leave requests for any given year as a group rather than individually. Although considered collectively, please submit each faculty member's request in a separate memo because these documents have to end up in separate personnel files. (It is also highly recommended that you maintain a chart of your faculty members' sabbatical eligibility, and use it to plan more than one year ahead in order to avoid, with a minimum of inconvenience, the problem of having too many of your colleagues requesting sabbatical leave in the same year/term.
  • In cases in which departmental needs make it necessary to ask a colleague to postpone a sabbatical, the Associate Dean for Faculty may authorize that teaching terms beyond the minimum 12 may be "banked" against a future sabbatical.) Replacement faculty, whether full- or part-time, should not be requested in the case of sabbatical leaves where no salary savings are realized. Instead, the departmental course offerings should be adjusted to cover the faculty member's absence. It is understood that at times leaves will require the cancellation of certain courses. Only in very rare cases will an exception be made to this policy

3. The faculty member’s CV

Please refer to the Faculty Handbook and for University guidelines on Sabbatical Leave and Document Number 02-05-01 of both the Policy Manual and Procedure Manual for University guidelines on sabbatical leaves and leaves of absence.

Please refer to the Faculty Handbook for University guidelines on the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).

Deadlines

These requests for sabbatical leaves and leaves of absence reach the Dean's Office no later than the end of the first week of October if the leave is to take effect in the following academic year. It is essential that this deadline be observed in order to meet the December 1 cutoff for such requests which is imposed by the Provost's Office. If a leave is dependent upon funding which is not yet certain, it is better to apply for the leave by the deadline and then cancel the request later, if that proves necessary.

​Effects on Paychecks

*Note - University policy does not allow a faculty member on leave of absence without pay for one term to spread the remaining salary over the remainder of the contract period.

​Effects on Benefits

THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS PROVIDED AS GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. ALL QUESTIONS CONCERNING BENEFIT COVERAGE DURING A SABBATICAL LEAVE OR LEAVE OF ABSENCE WITHOUT PAY SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE BENEFITS OFFICE, 200 CRAIG HALL, EXTENSION 4-8160.

THE DEAN HAS NO DISCRETION TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS TO UNIVERSITY BENEFITS POLICIES TO ACCOMMODATE INDIVIDUAL REQUESTS.

In the case of sabbatical leaves with full pay, no interruption to benefits should occur. When the sabbatical leave is at half pay, benefit coverage continues but those items which are based on a percentage of the individual's salary will reflect the reduced salary rate. For more information regarding this process, contact the Office of Human Resources Benefits Customer Support at 833-852-2210 or by filling out this form.

IF COVERAGE IS SUSPENDED, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE FACULTY MEMBER TAKE ACTION TO RESUME MEDICAL COVERAGE BY REQUESTING A QUALIFYING STATUS CHANGE WITHIN 60 DAYS FROM THE END OF THE LEAVE.  THIS IS NOT AUTOMATIC.