The University makes available to each untenured Assistant Professor and each untenured Associate Professor no earlier than the year following his or her first full year of service within that rank the possibility for a one-semester junior faculty development assignment.
This assignment must be taken before the initiation of a recommendation concerning tenure (“initiation” is defined as the date on which the unit head informs the next level of authority as to the nature of the recommendation concerning tenure). Arrangements for these assignments are made consultation with the faculty member and approval of the dean. The faculty member may in addition apply for Kenan, Pogue, or other competitive leaves.
Tenured Faculty
Each tenured faculty member who has been at the institution for at least five years and has not had such an assignment for the past five years is eligible to apply to the head of his or her academic unit for one-semester research and study assignment available to that unit, under certain conditions. If a faculty member has been appointed to a junior faculty development assignment as described above, he or she will not be eligible to apply for the research and study assignment outlined until he or she has completed five additional years of service following the end of the semester in which the faculty member was appointed to a junior faculty development assignment.
The faculty member may apply for Kenan, Pogue, or other competitive leaves as described here on the Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost webpage.
A faculty member whose initial appointment confers tenure shall be eligible to apply no earlier than his or her second year at the institution for a research and study assignment to be taken in the third year. A faculty member whose initial appointment did not confer tenure, and who was not appointed to a junior faculty development assignment, and who has tenure, shall be eligible to apply no earlier than his or her second year at the institution for research and study assignment to be taken no earlier than the third year.
If a faculty member has been appointed to a junior faculty development assignment, he or she will not be eligible to apply for the research and study assignments outlined here until he or she has completed five additional years of service following the end of the service period in which the faculty member was appointed to the junior faculty development assignment. The faculty member may apply for Kenan, Pogue, or other competitive leaves.
Requests for research and study assignments are made to the appropriate dean each January. Applications should include the following:
- a description of the research or development project and the reasons that time released from teaching and administrative responsibility is essential to complete the project. The application must be at least one page and not more than two pages in length.
- a letter from the department chair to the dean. The department chair shall recommend the persons within the units who should be awarded research and study assignments from among the applications submitted to them. The department chairs must include in their recommendation how teaching, research or service responsibilities will be covered.
Formula For Allocation Of Assignments To Academic Units
The number of assignments for a department (or school where there are no departments) in any single year will be approximately one-seventh the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty holding primary appointments in the unit as of July 1 each year, plus or minus one slot.
Priorities And Criteria For Leaves
Academic units will consider the following criteria in selecting faculty for leaves:
- needs and resources of the unit, especially continuity of graduate and undergraduate teaching
- time since last leave
- seniority
- quality of the project to be undertaken and faculty member’s ability to carry it out
- leave time required (normally, leaves are one or two semesters)
- timeliness of the project and how it fits the faculty member’s career
- performance as a faculty member (scholarship/creative activity, teaching and service) since last leave
- evidence of attempts for joint funding
- University service
The academic unit will consider, all other things being equal, requests for leaves in the following order of priority:
- leaves without pay subsidized by an outside source, (e.g., NEH, Guggenheim, Mellon)
- leaves without pay subsidized by another institution in order to have the faculty member teach at/for that institution
- leaves with pay from a non-state University source, (e.g., Kenan or Pogue)
- leaves with partial pay subsidized by an outside source, (i.e., in which the University makes up the difference between the outside support and the faculty member’s current salary)
- leaves with pay, (i.e., off-campus assignments and reduced loads)
No faculty member may have more than two consecutive years of leave from the University for any reason, no matter what the source. A semester’s leave supported in whole or in part from University sources (state or non-state) will not normally be granted more often than every 8th semester.
The number of leaves awarded in any given year may be reduced according to departmental or School needs. The benefits of such leaves to the faculty and their research interests should be balanced with the teaching commitments so there is no undue burden on the academic unit.
Administrative supplements are not removed if a faculty member goes on leave for an FMLA-qualifying reason. Administrative supplements will be removed if a faculty member goes on leave for a non-FMLA qualifying reason with some exceptions including Distinguished Term Professorships. Please contact the Office of Human Resources EHRA Personnel Administration if you have any questions.
Faculty awarded competitive research and scholarly leaves will retain benefit eligibility while on leave with an expectation that the faculty member will return from such leave or assignment and complete one full year of service.
Faculty members are advised to contact the Benefits Office, in the Office of Human Resources, to clarify what their individual benefit status and responsibilities may be while on leave and what actions will be required after they return from leave, as part of their preparation for taking this leave. Some benefit premiums will be required to be paid on an after-tax basis via the Leave Administration Unit while on leave from the university.
Faculty Member Obligations
Any faculty member who receives either a competitive research leave or a research and study assignment is obligated to return to the University and complete one full year of service. Upon completion of either a leave or an assignment, the faculty member must file a report on the work done with the unit head, dean, and Committee on Faculty Research and Study leaves within three months following the completion of the leave.
Leave Assignment Procedures
The academic unit of each faculty member awarded a leave must complete the Faculty Leave Notification Form.