Sabbaticals help profs catch up in chosen profession
Each year Utah State University has many professors from different colleges go on sabbatical. Most of the time students have no idea who the professor is or what they are doing while they are gone.
“A sabbatical leave is an opportunity for faculty personnel, after seven years, to reconnect with their professional area,” said Deanna D. Winn, interim assistant provost at USU. “They are able to get back into their research area of focus and further their knowledge.”
Sabbatical leaves are professional leaves of absence for tenured professors (the length of time it takes to move from an assistant professor to an associate professor). The leave can last from a semester up to a year. The length is determined by the provost, according to USU’s policy. Additional sabbaticals are earned at the rate of one sabbatical leave for every six years of professional service to the university, according to policy.
A faculty member is entitled to a sabbatical leave every seven years, Winn said. The professor determines what they would like to do. He or she then has to submit a request to the provost to be approved.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to going on a sabbatical, Winn said.
“It gives one a little slower pace to study professional areas because they are not in their daily routine of going to class and grading papers,” Winn said. “It is also a time to update on’s self.
“The disadvantages would be loss of money and the decision of whether to take your family with you or not,” Winn said. “Relocating your family can also be a benefit.”
When a professor goes on sabbatical, the university does not hire someone to take their place or job load, Winn said. This means that other people in the department have to pick up the slack, so not everyone in a department can leave at the same time.
Faculty members on sabbatical leave are eligible for advancement in rank and for any general or special adjustment in salary received by other faculty members of the University.
Once the faculty member returns to USU he or she must remain in the university’s service for at least one academic year. If the professor fails to return, he or she will reimburse USU for the sabbatical leave salary received, according to university policy. Also, at the end of the sabbatical a written report will be presented to the provost.
Requests for the next year’s professors going on sabbatical have already been approved. Twenty-nine professors from eight different colleges are leaving. Fourteen of the professors are from the college of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Currently there are 32 professors on sabbatical leave.