Faculty Leaves

Code of Practice Regarding Instructional Academic Leaves

Fellowship leaves may be granted for conducting research (including study and related travel), improvement of teaching, and/or production of creative works in literature or the arts.

Eligibility for Fellowship Leave Award:

Tenured faculty members (Professors-all ranks, Lecturers with a Certificate of Continuous Employment (CCE), and College Laboratory Technicians) who have completed six years of continuous paid full time service with the University (since the last sabbatical or all together if no Fellowship Leave has previously been taken) shall be eligible for a fellowship leave award.

The applicant must continue to serve for at least one year after expiration of the leave unless this provision is waived by the Board of Trustees

All candidates must submit a Fellowship Leave Report with a summary of their relevant activities during the leave. This must be completed within 30 days of your return to the College. Please submit the Fellowship Leave Report to the Office of Academic Administration, with a copy to your Department Chair, Dean’s Office and the Office of Human Resources.

Types of Fellowship Leaves:

·       Full-year leave at 80% pay
·       Half-year leave at 80% pay
·       One-Semester leave at 100% pay

Should an applicant for a full-year Fellowship Leave Award at 80% pay wish to take the leave in non-consecutive semesters, they must explain in their application as to why the leave must be separated.

Please note that all Fellowship Leaves Awards recommended by the College are subject to the final approval of the Board of Trustees.

Fellowship Leave Awards Memo: Academic Year 2025-2026
Fellowship and Grant Awards Concurrent with Fellowship Leave
Application for Fellowship Leave Award

The purpose of Scholar Incentive Awards is to facilitate and document scholarly research. Applications that reflect other purposes, such as meeting degree requirements, service outside the University, or other professional, career or personal reasons, shall not be considered for these Awards.

Eligibility for Scholar Incentive Award:

Full-time instructional staff member in an eligible title (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor, Lecturer, University Professor, Distinguished Professor and Medical Series) must have completed not less than one full year of continuous paid full time service before becoming eligible for a Scholar Incentive Award. A candidate shall be eligible for a subsequent Scholar Incentive Award after six years of creditable service with the University since the completion of the last Scholar Incentive Award. A Scholar Incentive Award may not be held concurrently with a Fellowship Leave.

Untenured faculty awarded and accepting a Scholar Incentive Award will have their tenure clock extended by one-year, as a Scholar Incentive Award serves as a bridge if it is immediately preceded by full-time continuous service creditable for tenure or a Certificate of Continuous Employment.

The eligible faculty member may be compensated by the University for up to 25% of annual salary rate. The total amount of money earnable with outside support and the University salary may not exceed 100% of the annual salary rate that the person would have received without the leave. The amount may be less than 25% if the amount of any outside fellowship and grant support received would result in earnings above 100% of salary.

Eligible faculty planning leaves and holding outside research grants providing less than full salary are candidates for Scholar Incentive Awards. In the absence of such outside grant or fellowship support, the faculty member would need to be able and willing to provide self‐support for the remaining 75% or more of salary, and the research proposed by the faculty member would also have to be evaluated and endorsed, in letters solicited by the College, by two “outside experts”.

Scholar Incentive Awards Memo- Academic Year 2025-2026
Application for Scholar Incentive Award
Guidelines in Approving Applications for Scholar Incentive Awards

Special leaves of absence without pay may be requested for study, writing, research, a creative project, or public service of reasonable duration. A special leave of absence without pay represents a break in service towards the achievement of tenure or a Certificate of Continuous Employment (for a lecturer).

Application for Special Leave of Absence Without Pay

Partial leaves with partial pay are granted for special projects, such as writing a book, when the leave would be to the mutual benefit of both the faculty member and the college. It is expected that partial leaves of absence with partial pay will be granted in rare and unusual circumstances, i.e., infrequently.

A partial leave with partial pay releases a faculty member from a percentage of his/her teaching responsibilities, with a corresponding reduction in salary, but does not relieve the faculty member of any other responsibilities. A partial leave with partial pay represents a break in service towards tenure or a Certificate of Continuous Employment (for a lecturer).

Application for Partial Leave with Partial Pay

Changes to Dates of an Approved Fellowship Award:

An eligible faculty member should immediately notify the Office of Academic Administration, Department Chair, Dean’s Office and the Office of Human Resources if he or she decides not to use a Fellowship Leave Award for the dates for which it was approved. A deferment of an approved Fellowship Leave Award requires Department, School and College P&B approval, and the Request to Change or Defer Fellowship Leave, Scholar Incentive Award or Special Leave of Absence without Pay Form. Cancellation of an approved Fellowship Leave Award only requires notification to the parties mentioned above and noted in P&B meeting agendas.

Cancellation of an Approved Scholar Incentive Award:

An eligible faculty member should immediately notify the Office of Academic Administration, Department Chair, Dean’s Office and the Office of Human Resources if he or she decides to cancel their approved Scholar Incentive Award. Cancellation of an approved Scholar Incentive Award only requires notification to the parties mentioned above and noted in P&B meeting agendas.

Request to Change or Defer Fellowship Leave, Scholar Incentive Award or Special Leave of Absence without Pay Form

Professional reassignment leaves are granted to members of the instructional staff who serve in the libraries to permit them to engage in research, scholarly writing, and other recognized professional activities that enhance their contribution to the University. Only members of the instructional staff who serve in the libraries are eligible for these leaves. The professional reassignment leave is not to exceed five weeks, which need not be consecutive.

Library Reassignment Leave Application

Paid Parental Leave – Office of Human Resources
Return from Paid Parental Leave⁠ – Office of Academic Administration
Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) – Office of Human Resources
Retirement Leave of Absence (“Travia”) – Office of Human Resources