University College
Review Procedure for Sabbatical Proposals

The procedure explained below implements Policy HR-17 Sabbatical Leave in the University College.

  1. The faculty member is expected to read and follow the instructions on how to prepare properly a sabbatical proposal and complete the required forms. The faculty member is responsible for presenting a clearly articulated and well-written proposal that provides sufficient detail to permit a thorough evaluation of the proposed research, planned outcomes, and the probability that the work will be completed in a timely manner. Sabbatical leaves will be granted only to those faculty members who prepare high-quality proposals.

    Information to assist faculty members with the preparation of sabbatical proposals is available on the University College Web site: Sabbatical Information.

    The following documents should be reviewed carefully.
    1. Policy HR-17 Sabbatical Leave
    2. Preparing Sabbatical Leave Application: A Guide for Faculty
  2. Sabbatical proposals are submitted by a faculty member to the campus Director of Academic Affairs (DAA). The DAA reviews the proposals to ensure that the content specified by the guidelines has been included, and may provide advice as needed to improve the quality of the proposal.
  3. The DAA forwards the sabbatical proposal to the Chancellor. The Chancellor reviews the proposal, makes a recommendation regarding support for the proposal, and forwards the proposal to the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses (OVPCC). The Chancellor must send to the VPCC all proposals from the campus regardless of whether the recommendation is positive or negative.
  4. If a faculty member has retained his or her tenure home in a University Park department, the OVPCC forwards the proposal for disciplinary review to the appropriate department head. The department head makes a recommendation to the VPCC regarding support for the proposal.
  5. The University College Faculty Council provides the names of faculty members who are tenured at the rank of associate professor or higher to serve on the five-member Sabbatical Review Committee. The members of this committee serve staggered terms of two years. Through consultation with the Associate Dean for Faculty and Research the VPCC selects the members of the committee from the list provided by the Faculty Council. Efforts are made to include representatives of five different campuses and five different disciplines within the College, as well as men and women.
  6. All of the University College sabbatical proposals are sent for review to the University College Sabbatical Review Committee. The committee ranks the proposals in groups by quality as appropriate (e.g., high, medium, low) and advises the Dean on the proposals to be recommended for support to the Office of the Provost. The Committee also prepares a one paragraph summary of each proposal recommended for support which will be used later for publicity about the award of the proposal.
  7. The VPCC reviews the proposals, considers the advice of the Chancellor, department head (if appropriate), and the Sabbatical Review Committee, and decides which proposals will be recommended for support to the Provost and which will not be recommended for support. The VPCC sends a memo to the Provost with only the positive recommendations and the summary paragraphs describing each recommended proposal. Final approval of the sabbatical requests is made by the President of the university.
  8. Once the President has approved the sabbatical requests, the VPCC sends a letter to each faculty member about the decision. If a proposal is not recommended for funding, the faculty member is sent a letter which indicates the negative decision and provides suggestions to improve the proposal.

August 2007