Faculty sabbatical leaves for professional development are intended for the mutual benefit of Linfield University and the faculty members granted the leave. Sabbaticals facilitate productive study, research, and creative activity by offering time for scholarly work.

Two options for sabbaticals are available:

A full year at half salary or a half-year at full salary.

In the case of the full-year option, the individual will devote at least half time to the sabbatical project. If additional work for compensation is to be carried out during the sabbatical year, the university will need to be satisfied that such work will not infringe on the time allocated for the sabbatical project or otherwise interfere with carrying out the project successfully.

With either option, benefits such as retirement contributions, insurance coverage, tuition exchange, and normal deductions from salary shall be continued by the university.

Sabbatical leave is made available to faculty as a matter of privilege rather than as a right. Each proposal shall be evaluated upon its individual merit. Sabbaticals are granted by the relevant dean and the Provost upon recommendation by the relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee. Although these proposals may take a variety of forms, as reflects the diversity of Linfield’s academic community, they should conform to the general guidelines below:

• Eligibility: A faculty member who has given full‐time service or regular part‐time service to the university for six consecutive years shall be eligible for consideration for a sabbatical leave.
• Application Deadline: A faculty member eligible for sabbatical applies in the fall semester of an academic year for a sabbatical leave for one or both semesters of the following academic year. Applications are due the first Monday of October.
• Preparing and Submitting a Proposal:  an application checklist is available on the Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee website and the Academic Affairs website. Applications should be submitted electronically. A proposal that is incomplete, not prepared according to the guidelines described in the application form, or not received by the above deadline will not be considered by the relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee.
• Conditions Governing the Sabbatical: Faculty members are obligated to return to service at Linfield University for a minimum of one year following a sabbatical leave of any duration.
• Review Process:
  • A faculty member’s proposal for a sabbatical leave will be reviewed and recommendations made to the relevant dean and the Provost by the relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee
  • The relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee encourages faculty to seek feedback on their proposals from their faculty (or, in the College of Arts and Sciences, divisional) representatives to the committee before submission of the final version of the proposal.
  • The relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee will review the written proposals and forward its recommendations to the relevant dean and the Provost.
  • Any significant change in plans for the sabbatical period must be re-submitted to the relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee chair.

• Post Sabbatical Report:
  • Within eight weeks of returning from a sabbatical leave, the faculty member must submit an evaluation of sabbatical activities to the relevant dean. This report will be used in three ways:
  • the report will be forwarded to the relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee for use in determining future sabbatical requests,
  • the report will become part of the faculty member’s personnel file, and
  • the abstract of the report (see below) will be published in Linfield’s digital repository for both Linfield community and broader community review.

The report should include the following components (two pages, maximum):

• A concise abstract of the results of the work. This one to two paragraph abstract will be published in the digital repository, forwarded to the relevant Faculty Development Committee, and included in the personnel file.
• Answers to the following questions. These answers will be forwarded to the relevant Faculty Development Committee and/or Promotion and Tenure Committee and included in the faculty member’s personnel file:
  • How well were the objectives of the project met?
  • What impact will this project have on advancement of knowledge in a discipline or interdisciplinary area, the applicant’s professional development, the education of Linfield students, and/or the Linfield community?
  • Any additional comments, such as: How could this committee or the various Linfield University offices be of more assistance in implementing supported projects in the future?