Sabbaticals
A sabbatical enables a tenured faculty member to engage in literary, scientific, or artistic study and/or research. Faculty members may receive a first sabbatical after five years of service and not more frequently than every seventh year after that. A regular sabbatical is either a half-pay, full academic year leave or a full pay, half year leave (full pay, full year sabbatical leaves are possible but must be arranged with the Provost prior to application to FDC). The college will not grant more than six sabbatical leaves in one academic year.
The Faculty Development Committee reviews applications and makes recommendations to the Provost and the President. As stated in the Faculty Handbook (section V.C.3), a faculty member taking a sabbatical leave will be expected to return to full-time service at the College for at least two years immediately thereafter.
Criteria for Selection
A major goal of the proposed project should be to help strengthen the connection between the faculty member involved in the project and his or her discipline. This could take many forms including (but not limited to) publishable research, papers, panels, essays, books, works of art, reviews, software, etc. The project will usually result in some tangible outcome such as publication, exhibition, or some other form of public presentation. It is the proposer's responsibility to convince the Faculty Development Committee that the project will strengthen disciplinary connections.
Proposals involving course development or improving teaching effectiveness will be considered, but must show a major change of direction for the proposer, rather than a simple review and/or enhancement of current subject areas or teaching methods. Applicants will need to demonstrate some expertise in the skills required for their projects, e.g., musical or artistic composition, computer proficiency, competence in statistics or foreign language, and so on.
Faculty receiving sabbaticals are required to provide a written report, of no more than two pages, on work accomplished to the Faculty Development Committee and the Provost.
Application Format
Submit your sabbatical application as an electronic file to the Faculty Development Committee Chair (luding.tong@marietta.edu). If your application includes materials that can not be sent in an electronic format forward 10 hard copies.
Failure to follow the proposal format or guidelines may exclude the applicant from being recommended for funding. If time permits, promising proposals that need more work will be returned to the applicant for revisions.
Summary of project and outcomes: Briefly summarize the project and clearly state, in specific terms, the goals of your project. Demonstrate how the project will improve your professional development and describe the benefits you see for yourself, students, and/or the college community. Discuss how the project goes beyond your regular faculty responsibilities and describe the specific outcomes you see resulting from your project.
Qualifications: Summarize your qualifications and those of each project member. Briefly describe previous work (e.g., publications, presentations, etc.), training, and experience in the project area. The goal is to demonstrate that you have expertise, ability, and commitment to accomplish the project objectives.
Action Plan: Give a step-by-step description of what you plan to do and the rationale for doing it. Relate these actions to the objectives of the project. For PIGs, please indicate other responsibilities that you will have during the project period.
Relevant Literature: Provide a brief review of relevant literature on the topic of your project.
Funding History: List all Faculty Development funding: minigrants, LRP, PIG, SRG, RMS and sabbaticals you have received during the past three years, and indicate whether or not you have submitted the two-page report required for LRP, PIG, SRG, RMS and sabbaticals.
Departmental Support: Provide evidence of departmental support. This could be a brief letter from your department chair which indicates how your project fits department goals and how your course load reduction will impact the department. (If you are a department chair, attach a letter from the Provost or a senior department member.)
Expenses: Present an itemized list of anticipated expenses. Valid expenses include supplies, student salaries, travel, or other items deemed important to the project. Applicants are encouraged to investigate other sources of funding for the items listed above (e.g., minigrants, outside grants, work study, etc.).