SABBATICAL LEAVE

The purpose of a sabbatical leave is to enable faculty to devote full time to study, research, or other academic activities that will enhance their scholarly and teaching competence and capabilities and will enable them to make greater contributions to their disciplines, their students, and Villanova University. Villanova offers two sabbatical programs, a standard sabbatical for tenured faculty and a one-semester leave for untenured faculty that is based on a favorable third year performance review, as described in the Rank and Tenure Policy. The standard sabbatical may be (with the approval of the chair, the dean and the VPAA) taken either for a semester at full pay or a year at half pay. Untenured faculty sabbaticals are only for a semester. An explicit condition of any sabbatical leave -- unless waived by the VPAA -- is that the faculty member will return to and teach at Villanova for one full year after the completion of the leave. Non-fulfillment of this condition for reasons other than disability will result in the faculty member’s having to repay the University for all compensation received during the sabbatical period. During sabbaticals the University will continue its contribution to insurance and other benefits.

To be eligible for the one-semester leave for junior faculty, a faculty member must:

* Have completed three full years of service on the tenure track (which may include one year of tenure credit from another institution or from teaching at Villanova in a non tenure-track position if that year immediately preceded one's assumption of a tenure-track position); * Have successfully undergone a third year review by their department and have been recommended for continuation on the faculty and for the one semester leave;

To be eligible for a regular sabbatical leave, a faculty member must:

* Have served the University in a tenured or tenure-track position for a period of six full academic years (which may include up to three years of tenure credit from another institution or from teaching at Villanova in a non tenure-track position, as stipulated in the appointment letter); * Hold tenure; * Have not been the recipient of a sabbatical or junior faculty sabbatical leave within the prior six years; and * Have demonstrated that previous sabbaticals, if any, led to concrete achievements of benefit to the faculty member and the University. * Have submitted to his chair and dean a detailed proposal describing sabbatical activities and rationale, including a timetable and a description of expected results.

NOTE: No academic year which includes an unpaid leave of absence for a period of a semester of more is included in computing years of service for purpose of sabbatical eligibility. Moreover, faculty who commence service after the conclusion of the first semester of an academic year will not have that year count toward the six years for sabbatical eligibility.

Eligibility does not confer a right. Sabbatical leaves are granted only when faculty meet the above criteria, when their sabbatical plans are judged clearly meritorious, and when the financial resources and staffing needs of a college or department permit. The University will attempt to make sabbatical leaves available to the largest possible number of faculty, consistent with its financial resources and its ability to meet instructional obligations.

Each recipient of a sabbatical leave must submit to the chair and dean a written report of activities during the leave. This report should be made within three months after returning to the University and should describe the activities undertaken, the location of those activities and the results (e.g. papers written, delivered, or published; skills developed, etc.).

Sabbatical/Unpaid Leave of Absence deadlines can be found on the website at ../sabbatical_leave.htm