Current and Upcoming Sabbaticals

2.10 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2.10.1 Professional Development Fund

Juniata College provides modest funds for the support of professional development activities, including research, curriculum development, pedagogical inquiry or innovation, and travel to conferences, workshops, and symposia. These funds are administered by the Professional Development Committee and the Provost. The policies and guidelines for the Professional Development Fund are as follows and are available in the Office of the Provost.

2.10.2 Sabbatical Leave

Sabbatical leaves are designed to encourage the professional development of faculty members, which in turn will advance the educational objectives of the institution. Sabbaticals may take a variety of forms, including writing, research, artistic production, study at another institution, and travel specifically related to the faculty member's proposed sabbatical project.

Sabbatical leaves may be for one or two semesters. Faculty granted one-semester leaves will receive their full annual salaries; those granted two-semester leaves will receive one-half of their annual salaries.

2.10.2.1 Eligibility

Sabbatical leaves are available to Full-time or Pro-rata faculty members who have served Juniata College for six consecutive full academic years or longer. A faculty member becomes re-eligible after six years of additional service following a prior sabbatical. In either case, satisfaction of the years of service requirement does not imply automatic granting of a sabbatical.

2.10.2.2 Procedure for Application

The application, which is sent electronically to the Office of the Provost, should include the following:

1. A document which includes, at a minimum,

  1. an outline of the program which the applicant intends to follow;
  2. a description as to how the program will benefit both the individual and the College or address an identified institutional need;
  3. a short review of past sabbaticals, indicating their impact from the applicant's point of view and the amount of time elapsed since the last sabbatical leave. The applicant should also include the prior sabbatical report submitted to the Provost's Office.

2. Your Professional Data Form (ARCH/Applications/JC Public File Storage/PEC Forms/Forms) and any additional information supporting the proposal;

3. A statement of support from the Department Chair or, if the applicant is the chair, a colleague approved by the Provost. (See Section 2.10.2.4 C. for a statement required of the Department Chair by the Administration.)

Applications for a sabbatical leave during a given academic year shall be received on or before September 1 of the preceding academic year.

The Provost shall make all applications available to the Faculty Development and Benefits Committee for review and recommendations. Rankings and recommendations of the Committee shall be forwarded to the Provost who will make recommendations to the President and to the Board of Trustees for final approval. The Provost will notify all applicants of the outcome of the Board's deliberations by October 1.

Faculty members whose sabbaticals were deferred from a prior year should submit in writing to the Provost a confirmation of the original plan, including a statement of any changes, by September 1 of the year preceding the sabbatical.

2.10.2.3 Criteria for Ranking Sabbatical Proposals

Recommendations shall be made by the Faculty Development and Benefits Committee to the Provost based on the sabbatical leave proposal. In addition to the overall quality of the proposal, the following factors will be influential in the evaluation process.

Criteria

  1. Clarity of the proposal: To receive full consideration, the proposal must be understandable to the committee. Thus, the applicant is encouraged to define technical terms and to supply sufficient detail so that the committee can appreciate the relation of the plan to the faculty member's present or intended assignments.
  2. Viability of the plan: The committee will weigh the practicality and merit of each plan. The applicant should make a clear case that he or she is capable of accomplishing the intended program, and supply sufficient evidence to show that the plan is realistic, beneficial, and achievable. For example, the committee will consider evidence that the applicant has sufficient groundwork for the sabbatical through appropriate reading, discussion with others in the field, or preliminary research. The plan should involve substantial time off campus. If it does not, the applicant must provide justification that the sabbatical activities can best be accomplished locally.
  3. Benefits of the plan: The intended outcome of the sabbatical should be clear and concrete and in keeping with the professional aim and college assignments of the faculty member, or address an identified institutional need. Specific goals should be enunciated. The applicant should indicate how these goals will benefit the institution and the faculty member. In general, proposals involving the creation of original scholarly products, consulting with external organizations related to the applicant's area of expertise or curricular programs initiatives will be given more weight than those that solely propose study of topics. Professional development efforts on a sabbatical should be of a scope beyond what could be accomplished normally during the school year without a sabbatical.
  4. History of the applicant: The applicant should make a clear case as to the efficacy of prior sabbaticals in furthering their professional development, and demonstrate successful completion of past projects or provide a rationale as to why as prior sabbatical activities were not completed. The committee should be confident that the applicant's record conveys that he or she will, to the best of their ability, complete the described proposal.

2.10.2.4 Administrative Criteria for Awarding Sabbaticals

The following criteria will be used to determine which sabbatical proposals will be approved:

  1. The relationship between a sabbatical leave proposal and College-wide priorities and needs shall have primary consideration.
  2. Equalization of opportunities among individual departments and among faculty within a given department shall be taken into consideration.
  3. The impact of the sabbatical leave upon departmental or programmatic plans will be carefully considered. The Department Chair shall submit to the Provost by September 1 a plan for continuity of instruction in the department should the sabbatical be granted.
  4. Sabbatical leaves shall not be granted for the purpose of taking other remunerative employment without specific justification of this employment as an educational program which will benefit the teacher and the College. In special situations an equitable determination regarding financial arrangements shall be made by the Provost.
  5. Sabbatical leaves may be denied or deferred by the College on the basis of financial or educational reasons. If a person is asked to defer his or her leave after it has been granted, the leave shall automatically be implemented the following year.
  6. Except in most unusual circumstances there shall be a period of at least three years between leaves of any kind.
  7. If a faculty member wishes to extend the sabbatical leave in order to complete a project, that member may apply for a second year's leave without pay. In such case, s/he shall follow the regular procedures for making application.

2.10.2.5 Responsibilities of the College

Sabbatical leaves shall not interfere with consideration for promotion and ordinary salary increase.

The College shall provide the supplementary benefits as described in Sections 2.14.2 and 2.14.3.

The College shall be responsible for determining arrangements for continuity and temporary staffing in the departmental program. Such staffing will not necessarily involve hiring substitute personnel.

2.10.2.6 Responsibilities of the Awardee

The faculty member shall, to the best of his/her ability, carry out the program as presented in his or her application for sabbatical leave.

If, for any reason, the plans of the faculty member must be substantially changed after the leave has been granted, that member shall submit a new plan to the Provost for approval. Once a leave has been granted, a change in plans shall not in itself be sufficient cause for the leave to be rescinded.

The faculty member shall submit a report to the Provost by the end of the drop/add period of the semester immediately following their sabbatical leave. No subsequent leaves will be approved unless a satisfactory report is submitted.

Sabbatical leaves shall be granted with the requirement that the individual will return to give full-time service to the College as a faculty member for a period equivalent to a full academic year, excluding summer school or, alternatively, reimburse the College for the full salary and institutional costs of fringe benefits received while on leave. If a faculty member returns, but fails to perform his or her full year return-to-service obligation, then his or her repayment obligation shall be prorated. Any repayment obligation shall be due in full, immediately after the end of the leave period or any subsequent, successive leave periods. A faculty member who cannot perform his or her return-to-service obligations due to death or permanent or total disability, shall be released of all repayment obligations. Determination of a faculty member's permanent and total disability to perform shall be made by the Board of Trustees.

Approved by Faculty at Faculty Business Meeting, March 1, 1995
Approved by Board of Trustees, April 29, 1995
Approved by Faculty at Faculty Business Meeting, April 4, 2012
Approved by Board of Trustees, October 26, 2012
Approved by Faculty at Faculty Business Meeting, March 6, 2013
Approved by Board of Trustees, April 19, 2013