A Guide for Arts & Sciences Chairs

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Sabbaticals & Other Leaves
of Absence

A tenured faculty member is eligible for a sabbatical leave after 6 years of full-time service at Boston University. Years in which a full or partial leave (or part-time status) occurred do not count toward eligibility. The standard mode is to receive 50% of the academic-year salary and to be relieved of a full year of teaching. Applications for sabbatical are due by October 31 each year for the subsequent academic year. The application requires a statement of proposed support for the remaining 50% of the professor’s salary. This can be in the form of grant applications, letters from other institutions committing funds, etc. In addition, the applicant needs to provide in some detail a plan for the scholarly activity to be undertaken during the sabbatical, with an indication of why the leave is necessary to accomplish the stated goals. Your approval of the application indicates your acceptance of the plan.

If the source of financial support does not materialize, the candidate must notify you and the Associate Dean for Faculty immediately. In some circumstances of strong justification, a one-semester leave at full pay might be granted (with full duties during the other semester), but this requires a written modification of the sabbatical proposal and subsequent approval by the Dean, central administration, and the Trustees.

In general, sabbatical leaves are considered normal in any given academic year, hence the assumption is that the department can cover its normal teaching schedule without appointing a replacement. If for some reason your department needs a replacement, you need to state so in a memo accompanying the leave request. This applies also to leaves other than sabbaticals, i.e., when a faculty member requests a maternity leave or a leave without pay (full support from another institution). Keep in mind that a leave might not be approved if it will have too negative an impact on the department’s teaching mission. For this reason, if too many members of your faculty are considering requesting leaves during the same year, you may need to come to an agreement whereby some delay their leaves.

Voluntary Deferral of Sabbatical Leaves, April 2008

The Dean of CAS will allow sabbatical leave deferrals for up to 4 semesters with the deferred semesters to be counted towards the next sabbatical when the department chair certifies that such deferral would contribute substantially to the professional development of the faculty member and that the department can otherwise meet its teaching and/or service need. Certification will include a brief explanation of the reasons for the deferral. All such deferrals will be reported to the Provost pursuant to the current Faculty Handbook policy for involuntary deferrals.

Leaves of Absence and the Tenure Clock, November 2007

In the College of Arts and Sciences, leaves of absence for purposes that resemble the normal duties of the faculty member or that are likely to promote the ability of the faculty member to establish a tenurable record are normally not approved by the dean for exclusion from the years of service counted in computing the date for mandatory tenure review. Leaves of absence for purposes that are substantially different from the normal duties of the faculty member or that are likely inhibit the ability of the faculty member to establish a tenurable record are normally approved by the dean for exclusion from the years of service counted in computing the date for mandatory tenure review.

Thus, leaves of absence for the purpose of conducting research or for the purpose of teaching at another institution would normally not be excluded from the tenure clock. Examples of leaves of absence that are normally excluded from the tenure clock include but are not limited to medical, childbirth, and adoption leaves, and leaves devoted primarily to working in a public service capacity (such as in a government agency in a non-research capacity) or pursuing a major program of training (such as gaining proficiency in a new language).