Sabbaticals
Sabbatical leaves of either one semester with full pay and full benefits or one academic year with half pay and full benefits are available for tenured full-time teaching faculty members. Those applying for sabbatical leave must have completed, by the time of the leave, six years of full-time teaching at the University or six years of full-time teaching after the completion of a previous sabbatical leave.
Approval of a sabbatical carries with it relief from the requirement to perform other duties for one semester or for one academic year (depending on the length of the sabbatical term approved).
Faculty members granted leave will be obligated to continue employment at the University for at least one year after the leave or to repay the full amount of the sabbatical support received. (Policy statement from the University Faculty Handbook, §3.14.5, Sabbatical Leave.) In the interests of consistency, the application requirements and evaluation procedures provided below apply to all sabbaticals proposals submitted regardless of the college of the faculty member.
SABBATICAL APPLICATION AND EVALUATION PROCEDURES
Sabbatical applications for the 2025-2026 academic year are due to the Dean by Monday, September 9, 2024. See the “Deadline” section (below) for additional information about the schedule for reviewing sabbatical applications. Applicants must submit one written and one electronic copy of the sabbatical cover sheet and application to their College Dean by the deadline. Both the printed copy and the electronic copy must be received by the deadline in order for the application to be eligible for consideration. The required cover sheet for the sabbatical proposal is available here.
Because of the diversity of sabbatical projects and the activities they propose, there is no standardized format for a sabbatical application. However, faculty members are advised to view the sabbatical proposal as if it were an external grant application. The proposal must carefully describe the sabbatical project the faculty member is proposing for the sabbatical. It is important to emphasize that no one class of projects is presumed to be more worthy of support. (For instance, proposals for a research project are not assumed to be more valuable than projects for pedagogical development.)
The review process seeks to evaluate all projects fairly and on their merits. Two general criteria guide the evaluation of sabbatical applications: the quality of the proposal, which includes its specificity and its persuasiveness; and the potential significance of the proposed project within its disciplinary or interdisciplinary area. It is crucial that the proposal envision a finished product.
Proposals should always indicate how the project will make a contribution to scholarship or visual and performance traditions, and how the project will enhance the individual’s teaching and/or professional development. In evaluating submitted proposals, the Dean will consider the faculty member’s record of scholarly productivity and of completing projects. The Dean will also consider the time which has passed since the person’s prior leave, if there was one, and seniority. It is crucial that anyone who has received a prior sabbatical leave have on file a report from that leave.
DRAFT SABBATICAL DEADLINES — For 2025-2026 Sabbaticals
Applications due – Monday, September 9, 2024. Submit the applications to the appropriate College Dean
- College of Arts and Sciences — Keith Mellinger
- College of Business — Filiz Tabak
- College of Education — Peter Kelly
One signed print copy of the application and one electronic copy of the application (in pdf format) must be must be received by the Dean no later than 5 p.m. Applications must include the coversheet.
Additional Deadlines
By Monday, September 30, 2024 — Deans forward recommendations to the Provost; at the same time, Deans send electronic copies of all sabbatical proposals to the Provost and to the Chair of the Sabbatical, Fellowships, and Faculty Awards Committee.
By Wednesday, October 23, 2024 — Recommendations from the University Committee on Sabbaticals, Fellowships, and Faculty Awards due to the Provost (sent directly from the Committee Chair to the Provost).
By Monday, November 4, 2024 — Provost Notifies Applicants About Recommendations to be made to the Board of Visitors for 2025-2026 Sabbaticals.
November 22, 2024 — Board of Visitors Approves Sabbaticals.
By Monday, December 2, 2024 — Sabbatical awardees for 2025-2026 receive final award (docket) letters.
Required Final Report
Following the first full post-sabbatical semester, the faculty member is required to submit a sabbatical report to the Provost at the beginning of the consequent semester (i.e., early September for a preceding fall’s sabbatical, early January for a preceding spring’s or full-year’s sabbatical). There is no standardized format for the report but it should review the proposed sabbatical goals with respect to what was accomplished during the sabbatical period.