Sabbaticals
Article XIII.B.2

2.   Sabbatical Leaves 
        The President or his/her designee may grant sabbatical leaves of absence to members of the faculty and academic staff for the purpose of encouraging scholarly and professional achievement for the mutual benefit of the University and the grantee. However, no more than seven percent of the members of the bargaining unit with tenure may be on sabbatical leave in any one semester. Under extraordinary circumstances this maximum may be exceeded at the discretion of the President or his/her designee. 

a.   Eligibility 
1)   A sabbatical leave may be granted for one or two semesters to any bargaining-unit member who holds tenure status at the beginning of the proposed period of leave and who meets the following additional requirements of eligibility. 

2)   Dependent upon the type of sabbatical leave requested (Section B.2.f.1), an applicant shall have served at least six or twelve semesters of regular full-time contractual employment in the bargaining unit since his/her initial appointment to Academic-Staff or faculty classifications or since a previous sabbatical leave. The elapsed semesters need not be consecutive, but no more than two semesters shall be counted for any one academic year. 

3)   A non- tenured tenure-track faculty member in the rank of assistant professor, associate professor, or professor, or a tenure-track member of the academic staff is also eligible for consideration for a one-semester sabbatical leave after six semesters of full-time service since the initial appointment in the bargaining unit and with the approval of the dean/director/vice-president. Such a sabbatical leave must be completed prior to the beginning of the seventh year of service. The granting of such a sabbatical leave may not be cited as evidence of merit in any application for tenure and/or promotion or in any challenge of tenure, promotion or non-renewal decisions. 

b.   Applications 
1)   Applications for sabbatical leave shall include the following:

(a)  The presentation of a definite plan for the scholarly/creative plan of work for the sabbatical leave. 

(b)    An indication of the specific semester(s) for which the leave is requested. 

(c)     A description of any fellowship and/or grant pending or secured at the time of making application for sabbatical leave. 

(d)    The applicant's agreement to return to service with the University for two semesters in the year immediately following expiration of the leave; or to refund the compensation paid him/her by the University during his/her leave, unless this obligation is specifically waived or deferred by the University President or his/her designee. 

(e)    The applicant's agreement to submit a written report on the extent to which s/he has achieved the purpose for which the leave was granted. 

(f)     A report on his/her most recent sabbatical leave, if any, that shall include the plan of scholarship/creative work for that sabbatical leave and the progress made to date on achieving the specific goals of that plan. 

2)   Within each department or equivalent unit, all applications for sabbatical leaves shall be submitted to the chair or equivalent administrator no later than November 15 of the year preceding the University year in which the leave is to begin, and complete application materials shall be forwarded to the President or his/her designee through normal administrative channels. All applications for sabbatical leaves from a department or equivalent unit shall be evaluated by the department chair or equivalent unit administrator and, in those units with tenure committees, by a committee designated by the unit. The evaluations of both the chair and the committee, along with the complete application materials and the dean's/director's/vice-president's recommendation, shall be forwarded to the President or his/her designee through normal administrative channels by December 15 after the November 15 filing deadline. Notification of the decision on the application shall be given to the applicant by March 1. 

c.   Conditions of Leave 

1)   An applicant shall agree to return to service with the University for two semesters in the year immediately following expiration of his/her leave; or to refund the compensation paid him/her by the University during his/her leave, unless this obligation is specifically waived or deferred by the University President or his/her designee. 

2)   An individual on sabbatical leave shall not give, for compensation, personal service unrelated to his/her sabbatical leave project, other than what the University would consider acceptable for a faculty or Academic-Staff member of the University not on leave. Any service for compensation shall be reported to and must be approved in advance by the President or his/her designee. 

3)   Formal study for an advanced degree is not normally acceptable as a sabbatical leave project. Exceptions to this regulation require the written approval of the dean/director/vice-president of the candidate's school/college/division prior to the filing of the application.
     For the purpose of meeting the needs of a unit, with the prior written approval of the dean/director/vice-president, a sabbatical leave
     application for a professional development project may be filed. 

4)   Persons on the nine-month payroll are normally granted sabbatical leaves only for the duration of specifically stated whole semesters. Exceptions to this regulation require the written approval of the dean/director/vice-president prior to the filing of the application. 

5)   For persons employed on the twelve-month payroll, one semester of service shall be interpreted to mean four and one-half calendar months of service. 

d.   Length 

1)   A sabbatical leave may be granted for one semester or two consecutive semesters. 

2)   Faculty members on the nine-month payroll are not granted sabbatical leaves for the spring-summer term unless the faculty member is on a spring-summer within-load assignment. Winter and fall semesters of a given calendar year are regarded as consecutive except in this case where a faculty member teaches within-load for the spring-summer term. 

e.   Sabbatical Leaves Committee 

1)  There shall be a University Sabbatical Leaves Committee consisting of eight members and chaired by the President or his/her designee. Seven bargaining-unit members shall be selected according to the method described in Article XXX, University-Wide Committees, at least one of whom must be a member of the academic staff, but no more than two members of the committee may be from the same school/college. One additional person shall be selected by the President or his/her designee. The President or his/her designee shall be a member ex officio of the committee (without vote). 

2)  The functions of this committee shall be: 

(a)  to evaluate all applications and to rank those applications which the Committee deems worthy of approval for sabbatical leaves; 
(b) to advise the President or his/her designee of its recommendations; and 
(c)  to recommend to the various elements of the University any need for change in the sabbatical leave policy. 

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