Re:         Sabbatical Leave Proposals due December 1, 2009

Under terms of The Policies of the Board of Trustees, Article XIII, Title E, eligible members of the faculty are now invited to submit proposals for sabbatical leave for the 2010-11 academic year. Sabbaticals are an important avenue for enhancing institutional strength and for individual professional development.  Therefore, for the upcoming year we will resume support for sabbaticals.

Given the current budget situation, we will be able to support a limited number of sabbaticals for 2010-2011.  Therefore, decisions will be made carefully based on the criteria below.  Some preference will be given to applications from those faculty members who had developed proposals last year and to those who request full-year sabbaticals.  In all cases, department chairs and deans will need to prioritize requests so that we can maintain our institutional commitment to offering small classes and a sufficient number of classes for our students.

The deans and I will prioritize requests based on the following criteria: 

1.  Quality of the proposal

• the clarity and significance of the sabbatical goals;
• the sabbatical’s contribution to personal growth as a teacher and scholar in relation to one’s career development;
• the sabbatical’s contribution to department, college/school, and campus mission and goals.

2.  Appropriate scope of the project (one semester or one year) based on the timeline for completion of proposed activities.

3.  The department’s positive recommendation, including a description of how the department will cover the courses, student advising, and/or other duties that are the responsibility of the person proposing the sabbatical.

Applications for sabbatical requests are available on our website at www.oswego.edu/administration/provost/forms.html.  Those considering a sabbatical are invited to work with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) to seek external funding in support of their sabbatical projects.  Completed sabbatical applications should be submitted through the department chairs to the deans no later than December 1, 2009.  The deans will review all sabbatical applications and prioritize them based on the above considerations and submit them to the Provost’s Office by December 15.  Final decisions will be made by early in spring semester.