Sabbaticals

The final deadline for all sabbatical leaves during the Fall 2009 / Spring 2010 academic year is Friday, October 17, 2008.

Principles and Purposes

These revised and clarified guidelines reaffirm the College's commitment to supporting all eligible faculty in planning for a well-used sabbatical leave, and then experiencing a productive and enriching period of intellectual, creative, and personal renewal.

This continuing commitment was clearly explained in the 1999 Columbia College Faculty Handbook:

The intention of a grant of a sabbatical leave is to allow the faculty member an opportunity to pursue a scholarly, artistic, educational, or professional project which cannot be undertaken in the normal course of a teaching assignment and faculty responsibility, and which measurably contributes to the individual's qualifications, quality of teaching and student benefit [sic], and is valuable to the College and its mission. The College has a profound interest in encouraging professional development and will make every effort to accommodate sabbatical requests. However, faculty must remember that a sabbatical is a privilege, not a right, and is awarded in a competitive environment.

Columbia's sabbatical policies and procedures are also consistent with national best practices, as described by Kenneth J. Zahorski in The Sabbatical Mentor: A Practical Guide to Successful Sabbaticals (1994):
"the overarching function of the sabbatical leave is to stimulate a faculty member's professional, personal, and intellectual growth. Further, most institutions insist on a mutuality of purpose, stating that the sabbatical leave project must show promise of benefiting both applicant and institution."

Policies and Procedures

You may continue to scroll through the complete guidelines or you may click on any one of these seven headings to jump to the appropriate section:

I. Eligibility
II. Deferring a Sabbatical
III. Application Deadlines
IV. Preparing and Submitting an Application
V. Conditions Governing Use of Sabbatical Leaves
VI. Review Process
VII. Post-Sabbatical Reports

I. Eligibility

General Statement: To be eligible for a sabbatical leave, a faculty member must have completed six (6) consecutive years of full-time teaching at Columbia College Chicago AND must have tenure. For example, if your last sabbatical leave was in Spring 2003 or earlier, you are probably eligible to apply now for a sabbatical leave for 2009-2010. If your tenure-track appointment began in Fall 2003 or earlier, you are probably eligible to apply now for 2009-2010 (subject to the stipulation in B below).

Details:

A. Only tenured members of the faculty are eligible for sabbaticals.

B. In cases where length of service makes an individual eligible to apply for a sabbatical leave before receiving formal notification of tenure, the sabbatical remains contingent on the formal receipt of tenure before the sabbatical period begins.

C. Beginning with the application cycle for 2005-2006 sabbatical leaves, there must be an interval of six full academic years between the academic years in which sabbatical leaves are taken, regardless of whether the sabbatical takes place during the Fall Semester, the Spring Semester, or both. An eligible candidate applies in the Fall semester of one academic year (October/November), for a sabbatical leave for one or both semesters of the following academic year. During a transitional period, while this model is being implemented and sabbatical schedules regularized, the eligibility of some individuals who may have anticipated a sabbatical after 12 consecutive semesters of service will not be negatively affected.

D. Sabbatical credit does not accrue while a faculty member is on leave from the College. This means that in cases of interrupted service (for any reason) the time off does not typically count toward the six consecutive years of service required for a sabbatical leave, but the eligibility clock is not re-set. In extraordinary circumstances, such as an unpaid leave sought in order to accept a fellowship or other appointment that clearly supports the faculty member's artistic/scholarly development and/or will bring distinction to the College), a case can be made in writing to the Provost in advance of the anticipated leave that sabbatical credit continue to accrue during the leave. The Provost's decision will then be communicated in writing to the faculty member, the relevant Chair(s) and Dean(s), and the Sabbatical Committee in a timely manner before the anticipated unpaid leave.

E.  Sabbatical leaves are granted for one semester at full salary; or, as an alternative, the faculty member seeking sabbatical may request a leave of one full academic year at one-half their then-current salary.

F. In the case of an extraordinary opportunity for a faculty member (as determined by the Provost, in consultation with the appropriate School Dean and Department Chair), the Provost may award a paid leave of absence. Compensation during this paid leave would include all normal faculty benefits. Upon accepting a paid leave, the faculty member agrees to return to the College for at least one full academic year or to reimburse the College fully for the paid leave. Periods of leave, with or without salary, do not count towards the years of service required for subsequent sabbatical leaves.

G. The Sabbatical Committee does not review requests for paid or unpaid leaves of absence.

H. No combination of sabbatical leaves and leaves with or without pay can exceed two years of continuous absence.

I. Eligibility is determined by the Committee on the basis of records maintained by the Office of the Provost.

II. Deferring a Sabbatical

For personal or departmental reasons, a sabbatical leave may be deferred up to two years without the loss of any credit toward the next sabbatical. However, sabbatical leaves may not be deferred for more than two years.

Please Note: The College and the Sabbatical Committee recognize the need to balance flexibility with consistency and predictability when scheduling sabbaticals. Nonetheless, eligible faculty members are strongly encouraged to take their sabbaticals every seventh year, as an important component of a comprehensive and coherent plan for professional and creative growth, that also includes tenure and post-tenure review. Deans and Chairs are strongly encouraged to resist as much as possible allowing staffing implications to influence the sabbatical schedules of their faculty. The Provost and the College are strongly encouraged to allocate resources accordingly.

III. Application Deadlines

To help individuals develop thoughtful, detailed, and convincing proposals for their sabbatical leaves, the Committee has established staggered deadlines; these deadlines ensure opportunities for consultation with Department Chairs and School Deans before securing their endorsements and submitting the final proposal for review by the Committee.

Deadlines for Individuals Seeking a Sabbatical Leave for Fall 2009 and/or Spring 2010:

Please Note: ALL applications for Sabbatical Leaves, whether for Fall 2009, Spring 2010 or the full 2009-2010 academic year, will be due as follows:

Friday, September 19, 2008: Written statement of intention to apply due to Departmen Chair and the Center for Teaching Excellence (may be a single sentence).  Please indicate whether application for sabbatical is for Fall, Spring, or full year.

Friday, October 17, 2008: Completed application materials due to Department Chair for review.

Friday, October 24, 2008: Department Chair forwards endorsed applications to Dean for review.

Friday, November 7, 2008: Dean forwards endorsed applications to the Center for Teaching Excellence to be distributed to the all-college Sabbatical Committee for review.

Between December 1, 2008 and February 13, 2009, the Sabbatical Committee will interview all candidates.

IV. Preparing and Submitting an Application

Please Note: An application not prepared according to these guidelines or not received by the above deadlines may not be considered by the Committee and the candidate may lose eligibility for a sabbatical
at that time.

The Committee's requirements for applications continue to be guided by this statement in the 1999 Faculty Handbook: "Individuals seeking grant of a sabbatical leave must submit a convincing plan for use of the sabbatical period."

A. A complete sabbatical application has three parts:

1. the "convincing plan" or proposal (see detailed guidelines below);
2. a current resume or curriculum vitae;
3. a coversheet, including endorsements/signatures from Department Chair and School Dean.

Sabbatical Application Cover Sheet PDF (NOTE: PDF format requires Adobe Acrobat.)

Application materials are available here online in both HTML and PDF formats. Currently the Office of the Provost requires that applications be submitted in hard copy in order to ensure clear formatting and necessary signatures.

A clean copy of the final application must be submitted to the Department Chair by the October deadline.

B. The "convincing plan" or proposal should be narrative in form and should respond directly to the following five questions (ordinarily, in not less than 750 and not more than 1,500 words):

1. What is the specific purpose of this sabbatical?

Describe the project in reasonable detail for an audience of peers who are not necessarily experts in your field.

2. Why is this project important?

Explain the project's significance to your own professional development, as well as the contribution it will make to your field and to the College.

3. What do you expect to accomplish during the sabbatical period?

Outline a specific plan of work for the sabbatical period, a realistic timetable.
Questions to consider: (Depending on the nature of your proposal, you need not answer all of these suggested questions with equal explicitness.)

Will you begin a new project or continue a project already begun?

If the latter, how much have you already accomplished thus far?

Do you anticipate completion of the project during the sabbatical period?

If not, how much do you expect to accomplish during the sabbatical, and when do you anticipate completing the project?

Where will you be working and how much work-related travel do you anticipate?

4. How do you think your time spent on sabbatical will influence your professional work, including your teaching, when you return?

5. How do you anticipate sharing the results of your sabbatical with colleagues at Columbia and beyond after your sabbatical?

Please note:

Proposals which clearly respond to the above five questions have consistently been reviewed favorably by the Committee.

The sabbatical project may represent either new or continuing work. It may be a project that can be brought to completion within the sabbatical period, or it may be a more open-ended project still in its formative stages.

The important point is that the project be fully described in terms of the applicant's field and development as an artist/scholar and teacher.

Applicants should bear in mind that the proposal will be reviewed by members of the Sabbatical Committee, who may or may not have a specialized knowledge of the proposal's area of inquiry.

V. Conditions Governing Use of Sabbatical Leaves

A. Requests for sabbatical leaves to pursue work toward an advanced degree should be explained in terms of an individual faculty member's creative, intellectual, and/or professional development, not just in terms of perceived need for additional credentials. The operative question in any case is: "How will this project contribute to the faculty member's development as an artist/teacher/scholar?"

B. Projects to develop major areas in course content and pedagogy may be considered, but should not simply replicate what is required under contract in this regard or what a faculty member might undertake with the assistance of a Faculty Development Grant. Pedagogically focused projects should require extensive and prolonged attention. The operative question in any case is, "How will this project contribute to the faculty member?s development as an artist/teacher/scholar?"

C. Full-time teaching at another institution or full-time employment of a non-research nature is not normally permitted during a sabbatical. Exceptions to this policy must be approved, in writing, by the Provost.

D. A sabbatical leave is intended to relieve a faculty member or department/program Chair from all routine service to the College, including, but not limited to, all committee work. Any exception to this policy must be agreed to in writing by both the Provost (or appropriate Dean) and by the individual granted a sabbatical.

VI. Review Process

A. A faculty member's application for sabbatical leave will be subject to review and recommendation by a committee of peers (the all-college Sabbatical Committee).

B. Although there is no formal process for the review of preliminary drafts, candidates are encouraged to seek feedback on their applications from their colleagues and Chair before submitting the final version of the application to the Chair by Friday, October 17.  Once the Chair has reviewed and endorsed the application, he or she will forward it to the Dean for review by the October 24 deadline.  After the Dean has also reviewed and endorsed the proposal, she will forward it to the Center for Teaching Excellence by the November 7 deadline to be copied and distributed to the all-college Sabbatical Committee.

Review Form for use by Chairs and Deans.

C. If for any reason, including concerns about staffing implications, a Chair and/or Dean declines to endorse a proposal, an explanation should be provided in writing both to the candidate and to the Sabbatical Committee.

D. The Sabbatical Committee will then review all complete applications from eligible faculty members based on the merit of the proposal and without regard for staffing implications.

E. After its deliberations, including review of the written application, written statements from the Chair and Dean, and an interview with the candidate, the all-college Sabbatical Committee will then forward its recommendation in writing, along with all related documents, to the Provost for action. At that time, the candidate will receive a copy of the Committee's recommendation.

F. Any significant change in plans for the sabbatical period must be re-submitted to this review process.

VII. Post-Sabbatical Reports

A. Within six weeks of returning from a sabbatical leave, individuals must submit three copies of a written report on their sabbatical experience: one to their Department Chair; one to their School Dean; and one to the Sabbatical Committee c/o the Center for Teaching Excellence.

B. Post-sabbatical reports must respond in narrative form to the following questions (which parallel those requiring a response when preparing and submitting a proposal):

1. What was the specific purpose of your sabbatical leave?

2. Why was your sabbatical project important?

3. What did you accomplish during your sabbatical leave? How do those accomplishments compare with your original plans and expectations?

4. In what ways does your sabbatical leave already seem to be influencing your professional work, including your teaching, now that you have returned to Columbia? What continuing benefits or consequences seem likely?

5. How would you like to share the fruits of your sabbatical with your colleagues at Columbia and beyond?

6. How might you approach your next sabbatical leave differently in light of your recent sabbatical experiences?

C. Primary responsibility for ensuring compliance of the post-sabbatical report policy rests with the individual's Department Chair.

D. The Office of the Provost, in cooperation with the Deans, Chairs, and the Sabbatical Committee, will establish and maintain an archive of post-sabbatical reports, documenting the creative and scholarly development of the College's faculty.

E. Individuals who cannot document that their sabbatical was conducted in accordance with College policies and their own sabbatical proposals may lose eligibility for one or more subsequent sabbaticals.

F. An individual who does not submit the required post-sabbatical report, prepared according to the guidelines, in a timely way, may not be eligible for subsequent sabbatical leaves.