Sabbatical & Professional Development Leaves Eligibility
Per university policies, sabbatical and professional development leaves may be granted at the discretion of the administration to enable appointed personnel to advance their profession, remain effective in their current positions or render the greatest possible service to the University of Arizona.
The University Handbook for Appointed Personnel 8.03.02 explains the university’s sabbatical policy. It specifies that sabbatical leaves may only be granted to appointed personnel who have served full-time continuous fiscal or academic year appointments at the university for not less than six years. Only individuals with tenure or continuing status are eligible for sabbatical leave. Leaves of absence without pay totaling no more than one year may be counted toward a sabbatical leave. Time served in excess of six years may not be accumulated toward future sabbaticals.
Additionally, the College of Information Science, in an attempt to promote research and publication opportunities, offers another type of professional development leave (junior sabbatical) for tenure-eligible faculty who have received a positive third-year review.
The junior faculty professional development leave may be taken in the second semester of the faculty member’s third year of appointment or either semester of the fourth or fifth year.
For career-track faculty, we offer professional development leaves. A career-track faculty may apply for professional development leave or relief following a period of not less than six full academic years of continuous full-time service.
Per policy, the University of Arizona offers Sabbatical Leave for Tenured Faculty who served on full-time continuous fiscal or academic year appointments for a period of not less than six years. Additionally, the College of Information Science offers three other Professional Development Leaves for Tenure-Eligible and Career Track Faculty:
- Associate Professor Sabbatical Leave (TT Promotion/Tenure)*
1 semester. No teaching. No service. Focus on research and continue to advise doctoral students.
OR
2 semesters or one fiscal year. No service. Focus on research and continue to advise doctoral students. The University will pay compensation at three-fifths of the recipient's normal salary.
- Tenure-Eligible Junior Professional Development Leave (TE Junior Development Leave after your Third Year Review)
1 semester. No teaching. No service. Focus on research and continue to advise doctoral students.
- Career-Track Professional Development Leave or Relief (CT Promotion)*
1 semester. 2-course releases OR a support fund of 25% of base salary (in an account for three years) to support professional development, the hiring of students, the hiring of staff support, the purchase of equipment, work-related travel, etc.
OR
1 course release AND a support fund of 12.5% of base salary.
* Please note that leave awards may need to be adjusted or negotiated given the college's fiscal capacity as well as that at the university level.
Sabbatical & Professional Development Leaves Process
To apply for a Sabbatical Leave or Professional Development Leave, please complete this form first.
Once the form is completed and submitted online through the link, the college will create a Sabbatical Leave or Professional Development Leave case for the applying faculty at the Faculty Portfolio portal within three to five business days. The applicant will receive an email with access to their case.
At the portal, the case applicant will be required to upload five documents:
- A Sabbatical Leave Form (the same form for both sabbatical leave and professional development leave)
- A Sabbatical or Professional Development Leave Proposal
A description of the proposed program for the sabbatical or professional development leave. Please include the goals to be attained, travel plans, and the benefits to the applicant and the university. This description must contain 1) your plans, 2) intended outcomes (journal article, book chapter, curricular innovation) and 3) how you understand the alignment with your current work and/or intended career trajectory. Please limit the sabbatical or professional development leave proposal to two pages.
For Tenured/ Tenure-Track faculty, after promotion to Associate Professor: indicate how proposed leave goals directly advance your progress toward promotion in rank.
For Tenure-Eligible faculty, Junior Professional Development Leave: indicate how your proposed leave goals directly advance your progress toward promotion & tenure.
Programs that include an Outside Commitment require an approved Conflict of Commitment (COC) form. See further guidance here.
Travel plans state whether additional trips will be required once the individual reaches the sabbatical destination. Documentation needs to specify how the trip(s) are related to the sabbatical research, whether reimbursement will be requested from the department by the individual, what the estimated cost will be of all travel plans, and what the source of all funds will be. Be sure to always fill out the U of A Travel Authorization for domestic and international travel.
- Curriculum Vitae
A curriculum vitae not to exceed ten pages. Follow the format for promotion, with an emphasis on material for the last six years. Information on the promotion format is available in the Curriculum Vitae section of the Promotion Dossier Template.
- Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs Evaluation Letter
As per university policy, a sabbatical leave application should be accompanied by a department head’s evaluation or a letter from the Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs. For InfoSci, please attach an evaluation letter from the Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs.
- Evaluation Letter
As per university policy, InfoSci requires an additional evaluation letter for the sabbatical application. If the application coincides with a promotion review, the evaluation letter must be from the faculty status committee. If the application does not coincide with a promotion review, the evaluation letter must be from the two most senior members of the peer review committee.
Sabbatical or Professional Development Leave Report
Following your sabbatical or professional development leave, you must upload your sabbatical or professional development leave report to your Faculty Portfolio Sabbatical or Professional Development Leave case by the end of the second semester upon your return from leave. The sabbatical or professional development leave report will be in two parts:
- Provide the objectives and results of the sabbatical or professional development leave project. If the objectives of the original sabbatical or professional development leave project have changed, explain the change, and the beneficial outcome resulting from the change. This section of the report will be used by the dean's/vice president's office to compile a summary report on all leaves and their results within the college to be distributed to the faculty of the college/vice presidential area. The report will also be used by the head and dean as part of the normal annual performance review of the succeeding year.
- Summarize the results of the sabbatical or professional development leave project and how they are of interest to the general public. For sabbatical leaves only, the dean or vice president will submit the report to the vice provost for faculty affairs for review in January.