Faculty Sabbatical Policy

A tenured faculty member is eligible to request, through the Provost, a sabbatical leave as follows:

A. One semester with 75% after three full years of teaching
B. One year with 75% of compensation after each 6 years of teaching service

a. One semester with 75% of compensation after three full years of teaching service at Haverford. Contingent upon timely and substantial efforts to obtain outside funding, the Whitehead Faculty Development Fund will supplement to 100% of compensation for the semester.

One full year of teaching earns a faculty member one full credit toward sabbatical, and three full credits are required before the faculty member is eligible for leave option (a). No leave credits are accrued during the year in which sabbatical is taken.

For faculty who are able to arrange a 2.5 course teaching load, leave may be taken in either semester of the fourth year. Otherwise, the leave semester must alternate between the 2-course teaching semester and the 3-course teaching semester, so that over the course of 8 years, the faculty member is "released" from a total of 5 courses.

Contingent upon the approval of the Provost, who will consider both departmental and College-wide needs, the one semester leave may be extended to a full year only if the second semester is supported by outside funding or taken as leave without pay, following the guidelines below. Normally, faculty are eligible for a maximum of one year of leave (with or without pay) in any four-year period. In cases where outside support is sought and granted, total compensation for the year from a combination of College and external funds cannot exceed the faculty member's regular annual compensation.

Under Option (a), for those eligible for a one-semester leave who obtain outside funding: if outside funds are less than the 25% required to "top up" from 75% to 100%, the College will always supplement to 100% compensation for the one semester.

If outside funds awarded exceed 25% of compensation, faculty will have two options. After deducting the 25% needed to bring the one semester compensation from 75% to 100%, faculty may use any remaining grant funds either (a) to "buy back" one or more courses for the second semester of the academic year, normally at 1/5 of annual salary/per course, or (b) to take the additional semester of leave, with no teaching, at reduced compensation.

Example: Professor X is eligible for a one semester leave in 2002-03; she applies for and receives a $30,000 NEH fellowship. Her compensation for the semester is $50,000. Haverford pays $37,500 and the NEH grant pays $12,500, leaving Professor X a "balance" of $17,500. She can (a) "buy" one course release for the second semester and receive full compensation for the year. OR she can (b) take the $17,500 as salary and do no teaching for the year. Haverford will pay full benefits on that salary so that total compensation for the year will be $50,000 + $17,500 + (.33 x $17,500) = $73,275, or almost 75% of total compensation for the year with no teaching.

With special approval from the department and the Provost, after three full years of teaching a faculty member may take the one semester leave as a 50% reduction in teaching for the year, at 87.5% of compensation. (Again, for faculty who are able to arrange a 2.5 course teaching load, teaching will be distributed across the year according to the needs of the faculty member and the department. Otherwise, in this option the faculty member who teaches two courses in any given leave year must teach three courses in the next leave year, so that over the course of 8 years, he or she is "released" from a total of 5 courses.)

b. One year with 75% of compensation after each 6 years of teaching service at Haverford. Contingent upon timely and substantial efforts to obtain outside funding, the Whitehead Faculty Development Fund will supplement to 100% of compensation for the year.

One full year of teaching earns a faculty member one full credit toward sabbatical, and six full credits are required before the faculty member is eligible for leave option (b). No leave credits are accrued during the year in which sabbatical is taken.

In cases where outside support is sought and granted, total compensation for the year from a combination of College and external funds cannot exceed the faculty member's regular annual compensation.

For those who obtain outside funding: if outside funds are less than the 25% required to "top up" from 75% to 100%, the College will always supplement to 100% compensation for the year.

Using the example of Professor X given under option (a): if Professor X is eligible for a one-year leave and receives a $30,000 NEH grant, the grant pays $30,000 of salary for the year and Haverford pays $70,000 (the rest of the salary plus full benefits).

Continuing appointment faculty members are eligible for leaves with the same frequency as tenure-line faculty, but the amount of leave support is pro-rata.

Once 8 years of teaching service have accrued, further accrual does not occur until a leave has been taken.

Untenured faculty are eligible to request a one-year sabbatical after three full years of teaching service at Haverford and reappointment. Salary for this "Junior Faculty Leave" will be 100% contingent upon timely and substantial efforts to obtain outside funding. In cases where outside funding is awarded, total salary from a combination of College and external funds cannot exceed the faculty member's annual notional salary for the leave year. The Junior Leave year does not count as a year of teaching service toward sabbatical accrual.

Accrual for sabbatical normally begins in the first year of a beginning tenure-track position, and no accrued teaching service is used for the Junior Faculty Leave. In the three years immediately following the Junior Leave, however, faculty may not choose option (a), one semester leave after 3 years of teaching. [This is because faculty are eligible for a maximum of one year of leave in any four-year period.] Instead, after accruing a full 6 years of teaching service and after a positive tenure decision, faculty will be eligible for option (b).