Individuals are eligible for sabbatical leaves during their first year of service as tenured faculty members or as faculty members on term contracts in lieu of tenure. Thereafter, a person is eligible for a sabbatical leave during every seventh academic year following the completion of the last leave. Ordinarily, sabbatical leaves are for one long term, fall or spring, with full salary; an individual may apply for a leave, however, that includes the January term in addition to one long term, with one-half salary for the January term; that is, one-half of one month’s portion of the year’s salary. An individual may also apply for a leave of one academic year at half salary.
Applications for leaves must be made according to the following calendar:
- Preliminary application with a statement of intent and brief description of the project due to the chair of the Faculty Development Committee by June 1;
- Completed proposals due by November 1;
- Screening by the Faculty Development Committee completed by December 1;
- Approval by the administration and announcement of leaves by February 15. The completed proposal must be accompanied by a statement from the department chair addressing these matters:
- The effect of the leave on the department’s course offerings for the year;
- Arrangements that can be made within the department or by using replacements that will be required to offer the courses necessary for a full schedule of classes while the applicant is on leave. Ordinarily, these arrangements should not include assigning course overloads to any individual.
- The chair’s evaluation of the proposal, or in the case of a department chair’s application, a department member’s evaluation.
The Faculty Development Committee evaluates proposals according to several criteria and recommends approval of leaves to the academic deans, the Provost, and the President. The Committee is also obligated to rank worthy proposals when it is obvious that there are more worthy applications than the University can support in a given year or when the number of leaves in single departments or academic areas will adversely affect their programs or course offerings for the year. The President, the Provost, and the academic Deans consider leaves on the basis of the University’s ability to support a given number, the needs of programs and curricula, and the merits of the proposals. Sabbatical leaves for humanities faculty are funded by the grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which defines humanities faculty as those in the academic disciplines of English, art history, music history, modern languages, history, politics, religion and philosophy. Leave proposals eligible for NEH funds might also come from faculty in other departments who teach courses within the humanities disciplines, such as history or philosophy of education, art history, theatre history, and music history.
The criteria for evaluating a proposal are as follows:
- Potential for contribution to the University, e.g., curriculum and program development; improvement of research and /or teaching skills; study in new areas; publication, performances, or exhibitions; retraining;
- Feasibility of the project;
- Needs of the University;
- Evidence of prior efforts at professional development; and
- Application and prospects for outside support.
When there are many more individuals eligible than there are leaves available, years of service at Converse will also be an important criterion. Individuals are obligated to complete one academic year of full-time service at Converse following the year in which the sabbatical leave is taken.
Any person deciding not to return to Converse after completion of a sabbatical leave must repay the University the amount of the salary received during the leave. By the end of the first semester following a sabbatical leave,
- Faculty members must present two copies of a written report concerning the leave. One copy will be sent to the Provost to be kept in the faculty member’s file maintained in the Provost’s office. The second copy will be sent to the Chair of the Faculty Development Committee and will become part of the permanent files of the Committee.
- Faculty members must make a presentation to the faculty upon return from sabbatical leave. The Faculty Development Committee will coordinate all faculty presentations as part of the Academic Symposium series.