Office of the

Dean of the Faculty

Faculty Handbook - Fall 2007

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IV. A. SABBATICALS AND LEAVES OF ABSENCE

(Source: Minutes of the Faculty, February 3, 1997 and amended April 6, 1998)

The college's policy regarding sabbaticals and leaves of absence is stated in Section C of the Faculty Constitution's Rules of Procedure (section A below), and in the Sabbatical Policy that was approved by the Trustees in 1958 (section B below). Because these require that CAPP exercise judgments with regard to approval of sabbaticals and leaves, the Faculty has approved a set of guidelines for CAPP’s deliberations about sabbaticals and leaves (section C below).

A. Sabbatical Leaves and Leaves of Absence
(Faculty Constitution, Rules of Procedure, Section C.)

Section C-1. A Faculty member on academic tenure shall be eligible for a Sabbatical leave at least every seventh year of full-time employment at the College, subject to the provisions of C-2 below.

Section C-2. Normally a Faculty member shall not be eligible for a sabbatical leave if it occurs less than 24 months following the end of the unpaid leave of absence of two semesters or more.

Section C-3. The College normally grants sabbatical leaves to faculty members with the expectation that they will return to Reed for at least two consecutive years of full-time teaching at the expiration of the sabbatical leave. Except in extraordinary circumstances, no faculty member will become eligible for any leave, paid or unpaid, before he or she has completed the expected two consecutive years of full-time teaching following the previous sabbatical.

Section C-4. Leaves of absence without pay may be granted to any member of the Faculty on request by that Faculty member, but only if no serious impairment of the operation of the College will result. A Faculty member is obligated to notify the College informally as soon as negotiations for a leave are under way and to make a formal request for the leave in reasonable time for the College to secure a satisfactory replacement.

Section C-5. In accordance with the requirements of ORS 659.630, parental leave will be granted upon the request of a faculty member. The faculty member shall provide written notice of the dates of intended parental leave. This notice must be received by the College at least 30 days before the anticipated date of birth or the date of physical custody of an adopted child under six years of age. In the event of premature birth, maternal incapacity due to birth rendering her unable to care for the child, or the unanticipated taking of custody of an adopted child, the faculty member shall give the College notice of revised dates of parental leave within seven days after birth or taking of custody. In order to reduce the impact on operations of the College, including staffing requirements and class offerings, informal notification should be provided as soon as is practical. Parental leave will be for 12 weeks in duration. Faculty will receive one-half of their contractual salary amount during their parental leave. In no event shall the parental leave extend beyond one year from the time of birth. See Section C-4 regarding leaves of absence which will apply to parents desiring to extend leaves beyond the statutory period of parental leave.

Section C-6. The College may require that a Faculty member accept a leave of absence for reasons of health, whether or not the individual requests such a leave, on the following conditions:

  1. If the individual disagrees on the need for the leave, he or she may appeal to the Appeals and Review Committee.
  2. A person required to take leave under this paragraph shall receive every benefit that would be available to a Faculty member who qualified for total disability benefits under any applicable disability plan maintained by the College.
  3. A special leave of absence under this paragraph shall be reviewed at least once every two years.

Section C-7. A single period leave, including Sabbatical leave but excluding leaves under C-6, shall not exceed two years except in unusual cases and in no event shall exceed three years.

B. Faculty Sabbatical Leave Plan
[Approved by the Board of Trustees, 1958]

Policy
The Reed College Sabbatical Program is designed to encourage independent research on the part of faculty members. The purpose of the sabbatical leave is to provide time for research and creative activity in the field that is related to the major scholastic interests of the individual professor. The policy of the College is to encourage scholarship and research in all fields and to make it possible for teachers at Reed to maintain a tradition of high scholarly attainment. Effective classroom teaching demands thorough training in the techniques of research and access to the best scholarship. In order to maintain and improve the quality of the Reed education, the College expects that all faculty members will plan their normal reading and research with the sabbatical in mind.

Each eligible faculty member will submit to the President an outline of sabbatical research preferably at least one semester before his or her proposed leave is to be in effect. The outlined program may take the form of research of a particular course or courses, or with a view to improving the quality or the content of a particular course or courses, or with a view to developing a new course. The close connection between research and teaching effectiveness should be sufficient guarantee that most research projects will qualify as acceptable. The individual faculty member is to be given the utmost freedom compatible with the academic aims and purposes of the College. It is hoped that Reed teachers will be stimulated to publish, but publication is not regarded as part of their duties.

The sabbatical leave will ordinarily be granted to each eligible faculty member once every seven years. The individual must apply for the leave in writing to the President, and no one shall be forced to accept a sabbatical. The sabbatical program is independent of any other grants for research, or for leaves of absences for teaching, or for any other purpose. Adjustments in the scheduling of sabbatical leaves may be necessary, however, and it will be the responsibility of the President to make final decisions with regard to the sabbatical leave schedule. All sabbatical leaves shall be granted by the Board of Trustees upon the recommendation of the President.

Upon completion of a sabbatical leave the individual will submit a brief written report outlining the nature of the research completed, naming the libraries or other institutions at which study or research was carried on, and describing the proposed use of materials gathered or work done in the course of the leave.

The period of time granted for sabbatical leave is defined as two regular semesters of academic work at one-half of normal salary. Any teacher may, however, elect instead to take one semester of leave at full pay.

The sabbatical program at Reed College has the official approval of the faculty, the President, and the Board of Trustees. Although no faculty member is required to participate in the program, the sabbatical research itself is an official academic duty of all teachers on sabbatical leave.

Implementation
Members of the faculty holding the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor, who have completed six years of continuous service at Reed College and who have not been on leave for the two years preceding the proposed sabbatical year may be eligible for sabbatical leave. Applications shall be made in writing to the President who, in scheduling such initial sabbaticals in relation to available funds, will normally be guided by a system of priorities taking into account length of service, continuity of service, leaves taken on faculty exchange, leaves taken for acquiring advanced degrees or furthering professional competence, leaves taken on grants and fellowships or for other remunerated studies and programs, medical leaves, and if necessary for clear decisions, seniority as judged by salary rank number. The President will endeavor to notify individual faculty members of a tentative schedule based upon expectations of when such sabbaticals may most likely be granted.

After initial sabbaticals, at the end of every six years of full-time teaching at Reed, teachers may normally expect to be notified by the President that they are eligible for leave and may apply.

The long range sabbatical program will normally operate in accordance with the following principles:

  1. The needs of the curriculum take precedence over the wants or needs of individual teachers and may result in postponements or rescheduling by the President, with the advice of Divisions and appropriate Standing Committees of the Faculty.
  2. Teachers who have been on leaves of absence or on faculty exchanges with other institutions will not be eligible for sabbatical leave until they have completed at least two consecutive years of full-time teaching at Reed.
  3. Upon notification of eligibility, teachers will apply in writing if they desire the sabbatical; those who wish to postpone the sabbatical leave must so apply in writing to the President; only under very unusual circumstances may a sabbatical be postponed for more than one year.
  4. It is the responsibility of the individual professor to plan his or her research with the sabbatical in mind. In order to make the best use of the resources of the College and of each individual, professors should plan to apply for grants, fellowships and other aids in time to use them during the sabbatical leave. Acceptance of grants, fellowships, etc., will not be considered in computing eligibility for sabbatical leave, except that leaves of absence are to be followed by two consecutive years of full-time teaching before a sabbatical can be granted.
  5. Normally a sabbatical leave will not be granted unless it will be completed at least two years before the retirement date under the retirement policies of the College.

C. CAPP Guidelines (as approved by the faculty on February 3, 1997 and amended February 8, 1999)

The following norms govern CAPP's consideration of requests for sabbaticals and leaves:

Eligibility for Sabbaticals and Leaves
1. Faculty members are encouraged to seek support for and to engage in research and scholarship in order to enhance their effectiveness as scholars and teachers. In particular, faculty members are urged to seek funding to complement regularly scheduled sabbatical leaves so as to allow projects of a full year’s duration and scope. Normally CAPP will approve requests for unpaid leave for scholarly purposes except when serious impairment of the operation of the College will result.

2. Because sabbaticals or leaves of a single semester remove faculty members from service on most major committees and make effective thesis advising difficult, it will generally be no easier to justify a one semester than a two semester leave. For the same reasons, a two semester sabbatical or leave that spans two academic years (e.g., a spring semester and the following fall) will be harder to justify than a sabbatical or leave for both semesters of a single academic year.

3. Individuals normally become eligible for a first sabbatical with their seventh year of teaching at Reed.

4. The second of two consecutive sabbaticals normally comes in the seventh year of teaching after the year of eligibility for the prior sabbatical, even if that has been postponed.

5. At least four years of teaching must intervene between consecutive sabbaticals; unpaid leave does not count toward this four-year requirement.

6. Two years of teaching should intervene between a leave of absence of two consecutive semesters or more and a sabbatical.

7. As stated, eligibility for one year of sabbatical at half pay is normally earned through six years of full time teaching at Reed. However, Faculty members may request continued accrual of sabbatical eligibility during full or part time leaves undertaken for such purposes as: (a) reciprocal faculty exchanges with other institutions; (b) funded opportunities for curricular development or pedagogical improvement; or (c) research or writing funded by competitive fellowships or grants. When approving full or part-time leave or part-time appointments, the CAPP will explicitly decide whether and to what extent sabbatical eligibility is affected, basing its decision on the extent to which the proposed activities have been successfully argued to benefit the intellectual life of the College. Leaves supported by the College’s internal competitive Paid Leave Award program will not contribute to sabbatical eligibility. Those portions of any appointment that constitute personal leaves, including those mandated by law, will not accrue sabbatical eligibility.

8. After completing a sabbatical, the faculty member will summarize the activities undertaken as a written report to the Dean of the Faculty on achievements during a sabbatical, including copies of materials produced, publications, etc. The faculty member is further encouraged to report on his or her research in a form suitable for dissemination to the Reed community (for example, as a colloquium or a published document).

The timing and impact of sabbaticals and leaves
9. Faculty members anticipating leaves or sabbaticals are encouraged to discuss their plans with the Dean of the Faculty as soon as these plans begin to take shape. Individuals are to apply to the Dean of the Faculty for sabbatical approval at least one and preferably two semesters before the scheduled date, so that the college can begin searches for adequate replacements in a timely manner. The request should state whether the proposed leave is contingent on external funding. All requests for sabbaticals and leaves should include a description of the activities to be undertaken and an account of how the sabbatical or leave will contribute to the faculty member's professional development.

10. Sabbaticals are normally to be completed at least two years before the individual retires.

11. Members of departments should arrange leaves and sabbaticals in concert with one another to minimize disruption to the academic program. CAPP will not recommend approval of any leaves or sabbaticals without prior consultation with the department through its chair. Faculty members on sabbatical or leave, especially sabbaticals or leaves of one semester, will be replaced only if compelling curricular needs or enrollment pressures so dictate. A department in which a faculty member is contemplating leave or sabbatical will be expected to justify requests for replacement positions and to provide two hypothetical scenarios for its program during the period in question: one in which the faculty member is replaced, and another in which no replacement is available.

12. Faculty requesting leave or sabbatical should expect to give up their offices to a visiting faculty member. While it may be possible for a faculty member to retain use of his/her office if there is a particular need, this should not be considered a matter of right.

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