Procedures and Evaluation Criteria for Faculty Professional Leave
1.0 Purpose
The purpose of this document is to establish the means by which full-time faculty may be granted sabbatical leaves consistent with Article 27 of the CSU/CFA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Professional Leave (Sabbatical) applicants should refer to the CBA for specific information of eligibility, duration, and other details. This document is deemed to be consistent with the University's commitment to the principles, goals, and ideals described in the CSUMB Founding Vision Statement and to its core values.
2.0 Election and Composition of Faculty Professional Leave (Sabbatical) Committees
2.1 University Professional Leave Committee
The University Professional Leave Committee shall consist of five (5) tenured faculty who shall be elected annually for a one-year term. The election process for the University Professional Leave Committee shall be facilitated by the Academic Senate Executive Committee, after University Personnel has provided a list of eligible faculty[1]. The election shall occur simultaneously and in the same manner as the University RTP Committee. During the first month of each academic year, all eligible faculty shall be given five (5) rank-order votes to distribute among all eligible tenured faculty, ranking their five (5) candidates from 5 (highest ranking) to 1 (lowest ranking). The five (5) candidates with the highest numerical rankings shall serve on the University Professional Leave Committee, except that no more than one (1) faculty member from any Department shall serve on the University Professional Leave Committee at the same time. A tie for the fifth position shall be broken by lot.
If a faculty member is ineligible to serve on the University Professional Leave Committee for one of the reasons listed in section 2.30, the vacancy shall be filled by the next candidate in rank order.
2.2 Departmental Professional Leave Committee
Each Department shall elect a Departmental Professional Leave committee when notified by University Personnel that a faculty member has filed an application for sabbatical. Once University RTP and University Professional Leave Committee elections have concluded, the Department shall elect a committee of three (3) tenured faculty, as needed, for a term of one (1) year. Faculty with joint appointments in more than one (1) department shall vote only in the department where they perform the highest proportion of their duties. The election process is decided by the Department Chair and tenured and probationary faculty of the department. Immediately following the election, the membership of the Departmental Professional Leave Committee shall be forwarded to the Dean and University Personnel.
2.2.1 A Department with four (4) or more eligible tenured faculty shall elect a Departmental Professional Leave Committee consisting entirely of three (3) tenured faculty from the Department. If there are three (3) or fewer eligible tenured faculty in the Department, then they all shall serve on the Departmental Professional Leave Committee. If there are fewer than three (3) eligible tenured faculty in a department, then the tenured and probationary tenure-track faculty in the Department shall nominate a sufficient number of tenured faculty from related academic disciplines to elect the remaining members of the committee. No faculty member may serve on more than two (2) Departmental Professional Leave committees in a given year.
2.3 All Department-level and University-level Professional Leave (Sabbatical) Committees shall be composed of tenured faculty members. All eligible faculty shall be considered for election and must serve, if elected, with the following exceptions:
- A faculty member who is on an approved leave of absence at the time of professional leave (sabbatical) application review.
- A faculty member who is elected to the University Professional Leave Committee or the University RTP Committee may not concurrently serve on the Departmental Professional Leave Committee.
- A faculty member elected to both the University RTP Committee and the University Professional Leave Committee shall recuse themselves from the University Professional Leave Committee.
- A faculty member who has served two (2) consecutive years on the University Professional Leave Committee may choose to exempt themselves from the University Professional Leave Committee. The faculty member must notify University Personnel one week before the election is scheduled to be exempted from the election. If a faculty member does not notify University Personnel in advance of the election, the faculty member shall serve for the academic year, if elected.
- Tenured faculty who have applied for a sabbatical are exempt from both the Department and University level Professional Leave Committees for that year. They may serve on the Departmental Professional Leave committee of another Department.
- Any faculty member with less than one (1) year of service at CSUMB may not serve on the University Professional Leave Committee.
- The Academic Senate Chair is exempt from serving on the University Professional Leave Committee.
- The CFA Faculty Rights Chair shall not serve on the University Professional Leave Committee or a Department Professional Leave Committee.
- Faculty on FERP/PRTB may serve on Department Professional Leave Committees as part of their regular service activities. Faculty on FERP/PRTB are exempt from serving on the University Professional Leave Committee.
3.0 Evaluation of Applications
The committees and reviewers shall use the rubric and criteria (see Appendices A and B) to evaluate the applications. The committees and reviewers shall provide a list of the recommended applications in ranked order by significance of impact and scope of the proposed activity to University Personnel for dissemination.
4.0 Rebuttal
An applicant may submit a rebuttal at each level of review within 10 calendar days of receipt of the response. The rebuttal should be addressed to the next level of review and include information that was overlooked, misapplied, or misunderstood by the previous level of review. Submission of a rebuttal does not increase nor decrease the authority of the reviewing body to make a recommendation in contrast to the prior level of review.
5.0 Authority
The President or designee shall grant sabbatical leaves after receiving recommendations from the Department Professional Leave Committee, the Dean, the University Professional Leave Committee, and the Provost. The Department Professional Leave Committee’s recommendation shall include a statement “regarding the possible effect on the curriculum and the operation of the department should the employee be granted a sabbatical” (Article. 27.6), and “This review shall consider questions related to the quality of the proposed sabbatical project” (Article 27.5).
5.1 The University Professional Leave Committee shall recommend no fewer than twelve percent (12%) of the total number of campus faculty unit employees eligible to apply for such leaves in that year at full pay sabbatical leave, when there are sufficient applications. The President or designee may grant sabbatical leaves to exceed 12% of those eligible. The President or designee shall notify all sabbatical leave applicants of the decision regarding their proposals consistent with the date specified in the Academic Personnel Calendar.
6.0 Extensions for Approval Process
Requests for extensions to process deadlines shall be submitted to the AVP for University Personnel. All requests must include justification for the exception.
7.0 Contents of the Sabbatical Leave Application
The sabbatical leave application shall include:
- Application for Sabbatical Leave form
- “The application shall include a statement of the purpose of the sabbatical, a description of the proposed project and the CSU resources, if any, necessary to carry it out, and a statement of the time requested, which shall not exceed one (1) year” (Article 27.3 of CSU/CFA CBA).
8.0 Duration of Sabbatical Leaves
Applicants may select one (1) semester at full pay or two (2) semesters at half pay. Twelve-month faculty may select four (4) months at full pay or eight (8) months at half pay or terms consistent with the current CBA. Library and counselor faculty shall defer to their sabbatical leave guidelines. A sabbatical leave of two (2) semesters at half pay may be granted within a two-consecutive –academic-year period (for example, Spring semester of one academic year and Fall semester of the following academic year).
8.1 Request for Change of Term
Requests for changes to sabbatical terms after approval shall be submitted to the Dean of the applicant’s College. Final decision will be made by the Provost, after consultation with the Dean. (Article 27.10(c) and 27.10(d) of CSU/CFA CBA)
9.0 Indemnification
Each sabbatical leave must be followed by a term of service to the University equal to the length of the sabbatical leave.
Final approval of a sabbatical leave shall not be granted until the applicant has filed with University Personnel a promissory note, the value of which is at least equal to the amount of salary to be paid during the leave. Such promissory note shall indemnify the State of California against loss in the event the faculty member fails to render the required service after the sabbatical leave.
Faculty members granted sabbatical leaves shall, within ninety (90) days of return to service, submit a written report of their leave activities to their Department Chair, Dean, and University Personnel for inclusion in the faculty member’s Personnel Action File.
10.0 Employment
Faculty members on sabbatical leave shall not accept additional or outside employment without prior written approval of the President or designee.
[1] Per CBA article 27.5 faculty eligible to vote for the Professional Leave Committee includes probationary and tenured faculty unit employees.