Sabbatical Leave of Absence

(What follows is a summary of the text found in the Calvin College Handbook for Teaching Faculty, specifically Chapter 5: Faculty Development)

Nature of a Sabbatical Leave:

A sabbatical leave is one in which the college meets the salary and fringe benefits costs during the period of the leave.

Conditions for Granting a Sabbatical Leave:

The following are criteria for all sabbatical proposals: they should be creative and/or scholarly, have a public benefit, and be a project of sufficient size and worth to merit a full semester's work. (Projects that focus on pedagogy can be approved for sabbatical, if the proposals fulfill the requirements for sabbaticals.) The duration of the sabbatical leave shall be for one semester plus an interim or for the full academic year. Persons on leave of absence for one semester plus the interim shall receive one hundred percent (100%) of their annual salary during the year in which the leave is taken, and those on leave of absence for a full year shall normally receive fifty percent (50%) of their annual salary.

Eligibility for a Sabbatical Leave of Absence:

Leaves of absence shall be extended only to those in teaching positions at the rank of Assistant Professor and above, to full-time administrators, and to professional librarians of equivalent professorial rank. Faculty members with reduced-load appointments are eligible for sabbaticals with pro-rated salary. A person will be eligible after completing six (6) years of service in a professorial rank or its equivalent at Calvin College. A person who has had a sabbatical is not again eligible until he or she has completed another six (6) years of service at Calvin College. The time spent in any leave of absence is not counted in the six years required for eligibility for a sabbatical.

An applicant, to be eligible for a sabbatical, must give evidence of having done preliminary research or of having engaged in scholarly or professional activity related directly to preparation for the projected leave of absence. Eligible persons are not entitled to a sabbatical leave; it is granted only after adequate consideration has been given to the application and to the needs and interests of the college. Planning for a sabbatical leave must not be done without first consulting the department chair and the academic dean of the division.

Note on Sabbaticals Involving Teaching Abroad:

In 1995 the Calvin College Faculty Senate approved a policy designed to make it possible for Calvin faculty to teach at Christian Colleges and Universities abroad, especially those in parts of the world where Christian education is undeveloped. Unfortunately, though this idea was approved in principle, no budget line has yet been developed to support this worthwhile goal. However, some funding is available to teach overseas through the Kuyer's Endowment. For information on these funds, please contact Ellen Monsma, Director of Calvin's Off-Campus Programs (526-6551).

Some faculty have inquired as to whether it might be possible to combine such teaching with a sabbatical proposal. For cases involving overseas teaching, the Faculty Development Committee has approved a set of guidelines for its use in evaluating such proposals. These guidelines are available here.

Date of Application:

Applications for sabbatical leave for 2009-2010 must be submitted online by midnight September 20, 2008, the year prior to the beginning of the academic year during which the leave would fall.

Application Process:

The application, already discussed in preliminary form by the department chair and the academic dean, shall be submitted to the Dean for Research and Scholarship, who will submit all applications to the Faculty Development Committee (FDC) for review and to the Professional Status Committee (PSC) for advice. The FDC will review all applications for sabbatical leave in its sessions following the September 20 deadline, and may request revisions, clarifications, or additional information from applicants before a recommendation is made to the PSC. (The FDC has authority to request such changes and to make conditional recommendations in cases where a proposed sabbatical has sufficient merit but unremediated deficiencies.) The FDC will then report to the PSC its recommendations for or against the approval of the proposed sabbaticals. The PSC will review the FDC's recommendations and make a final recommendation to the president.