III. The Faculty

K. Leaves of Absence⁹

In recognition that leaves of absence can be highly beneficial for the continued professional growth and development of its faculty, Colgate University provides a number of such opportunities as outlined below:

1. Accelerated Leave Program In 1970, acting on a recommendation from an ad hoc Committee on Faculty Leaves and Loads, the Faculty approved a program of accelerated leaves (sometimes referred to as "quadrennials") to increase the opportunities for faculty members to pursue scholarly activities on a full-time basis free of other commitments. The following rules for the Accelerated Leave Program were enacted by the Faculty:

a. Any tenured faculty member who teaches three semester courses in excess of the normal teaching load will be eligible to apply for one-half year of leave at full pay. This leave will be in addition to the half-year leave at full pay or full year of leave at half-pay for which he or she is normally eligible after every seventh year (subject to the rules for Sabbatical Leaves listed below). This extra leave must be for the purpose of engaging in some clearly specified kind of scholarly activity.

b. Any nontenured faculty member who has taught a normal course load at Colgate for at least one year and who thereafter teaches three semester courses in excess of the normal teaching load will be eligible to apply for one-half year of leave at full pay. This leave will be in addition to the half-year at full pay or full year at half-pay for which he or she normally becomes eligible after serving for one year on continuous tenure (subject to the rules for Sabbatical Leaves listed below). This extra leave must be for the purpose of engaging in some clearly specified kind of scholarly activity.

c. A faculty member can count no more than one semester course each year in excess of the normal teaching load toward an extra leave with pay.

d. Except in very unusual circumstances, a faculty member will not be eligible to apply for a period of leave with pay for more than one year at any one time.

The Dean's Advisory Council has formulated the following guidelines for the administration of the Accelerated Leave Program:

(1) The Dean's Advisory Council must approve all programs leading to an Accelerated Leave before any courses can be taught for the purpose of counting towards an accelerated leave.

(2) Applications for permission to begin an Accelerated Leave Program should be made to the chair of the department, who should examine the application, taking into account scheduling problems and the needs of the department during the period when the faculty member would be earning the accelerated leave.

(3) The applications should be accompanied by a provisional plan for the use of the leave when it is obtained. Although the plan is naturally subject to modification, it should consist of a carefully designed research project or creative endeavor related to the faculty member's academic discipline and scholarship.

(4) The Dean's Advisory Council will review all applications for permission to begin an Accelerated Leave Program. The decision of the Dean's Advisory Council will take into account the provisional plan submitted for the use of the leave and the department's needs during this period, in addition to general University needs.

(5) An accelerated leave cannot be taken in the year that it is earned.

(6) An accelerated leave is figured as three course credits. Therefore, a faculty member must teach two courses (or equivalent) the other semester to add up to a normal course load of five. Accelerated leave credit cannot be earned during a sabbatical leave year or during a year in which an accelerated leave is taken.

(7) Faculty members who enter the Accelerated Leave Program and teach additional courses for credit towards an accelerated leave, but who resign from the University before completing the Accelerated Leave Program, will not be compensated for teaching these additional courses. Nontenured faculty members, therefore, should propose entering the Accelerated Leave Program only if there is a reasonable expectation that they will be able to complete it and take the earned accelerated leave before the end of their probationary service at Colgate.

(8) An accelerated leave may not be taken unless a department can manage its course load without a replacement.

(9) Once an accelerated leave has been earned, it must normally be taken within the next two years, unless departmental or University needs require postponement. Faculty members who have earned an accelerated leave must take it before applying for permission to begin a new Accelerated Leave Program or accumulating any courses toward a new accelerated leave.

2. Junior Faculty Leave Program Since the spring of 1979, Colgate has supported leaves, designed to provide junior faculty in the tenure stream and in Category I appointments with the opportunity to pursue full-time research for one term at their normal salary. As of academic year 1986­87, such a leave is granted automatically upon successful passage of the third-year comprehensive (or the first comprehensive review for Category I faculty) review. A description of the research to be carried out, the methods to be applied, and the location of the research should be included in the candidate's personal statement in the third-year review dossier. Leaves will normally be taken during the fourth or fifth year of teaching at Colgate.

The Junior Faculty Leave Program is administered by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty. Departments of successful applicants will receive funds to staff the two courses which would have been taught by the faculty member granted leave, if such replacement staff is needed. Although the normal leave period is a spring or fall term, it is also permissible to arrange a course reduction each term if it facilitates proposed research and if the department chair approves. There is an expectation that individuals taking a Junior Faculty Leave will return for at least a year of continued full-time service at Colgate.

3. Leaves of Absence Without Pay Colgate faculty members often compete successfully for grants and fellowships from foundations and government agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation. The University will continue to grant scholarly leaves of absence without pay for periods up to one year, so long as the leaves are compatible with the staffing needs of the departments and the University as a whole. Faculty members who wish to apply for a leave of absence without pay should first discuss it with their department chair, who will forward the request with a recommendation to the division director and the Dean's Advisory Council. An application for a leave of absence without pay should be made as early as possible, in order that arrangements can be made for replacing the faculty member while he or she is on leave.

The following policies apply to the provisions of benefits for faculty on leave of absence without pay:

a. Faculty members who are on a leave without pay to perform scholarly activities and who have received salary support for those activities in the form of a grant from an external agency (not an external employer) will continue to have premiums for life insurance and their own medical insurance paid by Colgate for up to one year if the grant does not allow such benefits to be claimed and if the grant awarded for salary exceeds $10,000 per year.

b. Faculty members who are on a leave without pay to perform scholarly activities and who do not have grant support for their salaries may apply to the Colgate Research Council for a grant to pay the premiums of their Colgate life insurance and personal medical insurance policies. The Research Council will assess each case on the merits of the scholarly proposal, just as it does in the consideration of each major grant application.

c. Except for the above provisions, faculty members will not receive benefits from the University while on a leave of absence without pay. If they wish, they may make other arrangements for themselves and their families with the Human Resources Department by continuing payments through the University at their own expense.

Normally, no leave of absence will be extended beyond two years. Scholarly leave of absence for one year or less will count as part of the probationary period unless the individual and the institution agree in writing to an exception to this provision at the time leave is granted.¹⁰

4. Family and Medical Leaves

Full-time and Category I faculty members are eligible to take unpaid family or medical leave of up to 12 weeks for the following reasons:

· the birth of a child or the placement of a child with the faculty member either through adoption or foster care;

· to care for the faculty member's spouse, own parent, or child who has a serious health condition requiring either inpatient care or continuing care by a health care provider; or,

· because of a serious health condition of the faculty member.

During any period that the faculty member is certified as medically disabled by a health care provider, salary will continue in accordance with the University's medical disability program. A certificate of fitness to return to work will be required when the faculty member is able to return to work.

Colgate will continue the individual's health, dental and life insurance benefits on the same basis as before the leave which is consistant with the Family Medical Leave Act; faculty members who are responsible for a portion of the insurance premiums must continue to make those payments or coverage may be canceled.

A maximum of 12 weeks leave may be taken, less the total of any family leave that may have already been taken in the previous 12-month period. In addition, any full-time or Category I faculty member may extend the duration of the leave for one or two college semesters if the purpose of the leave is due to becoming a parent of a newly born or newly adopted or foster child. Full-time faculty may also elect to work part-time for one or two semesters, with the salary adjusted accordingly. In this case, Colgate will pay the cost of health, dental and life insurance during the semester or semesters which include all or part of disability period and/or up to the first 12 weeks of the leave. Faculty members who are both employed by Colgate are jointly entitled to a combined total of one or two semesters of such leave.

If the period of family or medical leave occurs at a time that will be disruptive to instruction, the work arrangement for the academic term during which the faculty member is on leave may be redefined. The redefined work arrangement could involve supervision of independent projects, advising, guest lectures in colleagues' courses, team-teaching, responsibility for departmental or divisional visitors, or, any other task as agreed upon by the faculty member, the Department Chair, the Division Director, and the Dean.

Faculty policies for postponement of tenure review because of such leaves are described under Probationary Appointments.

The Human Resources Department must be notified of faculty members who are on family or medical leave.

5. Sabbatical Leaves In order to encourage improved teaching and continued professional growth of the faculty, the Board of Trustees in 1959 approved:

. . . a program of sabbatical leaves for members of the faculty on tenure, either on the basis of: (a) a full year's leave at one-half pay or (b) a semester's leave at full pay. It is understood that such advance arrangements will be made for engaging instructors as replacements or for bracketing courses and spreading the absent professor's teaching load among other members of the department, and that granting a sabbatical will involve no cost to the college. It is also understood that the granting of leaves shall be subject to the approval of the President in each instance and not become regarded as a vested right for a given moment by the faculty and that the adoption of such a program shall become a substitute for the current practice of granting the last semester prior to a faculty member's retirement as leave at full pay.

The following regulations have been developed to administer the program of Sabbatical Leaves:

a. Any faculty member who has served for one year on continuous tenure will be eligible to apply for a leave with pay after he or she has been a member of the Colgate faculty for six consecutive years.

b. Thereafter, each faculty member will become eligible to apply for leave with pay during every seventh year of consecutive service.

c. Faculty are expected to take advantage of the sabbatical leave program and to use that opportunity for research or other scholarly work. When applying, the faculty member should indicate the scholarly purpose of the leave, describe the work to be performed, and indicate what publications, performances or works are expected as a result of the leave.

d. Beginning in 1989­90, this leave program will be construed as a five-course release over two successive sabbaticals. Faculty who elect a one-semester sabbatical leave will normally teach three courses during the on-campus semester. Alternating three- and two-course loads will be expected during the on-campus semester of the third and subsequent sabbatical leaves. Sabbatical leaves of absence may be requested for one semester with full pay or one year with half-pay. In granting sabbatical leaves, the University will continue its contributions to the retirement and insurance programs during the period of leave on the basis of the faculty member's full salary.

e. In view of the terms authorizing this program of leaves, no replacement will be engaged for a faculty member having a leave with full pay. Insofar as the budgetary situation permits, an instructor may be engaged as a replacement for a faculty member who is on leave for one year with half-pay.

f. A faculty member accepting a leave of absence with pay shall undertake not to accept any teaching appointment in the United States or Canada. One who takes a leave of absence of a full year at one-half pay shall undertake not to accept such appointment for more than one semester. These restrictions will not apply to teaching abroad, research activities, or summer teaching.

g. The order in which eligible faculty members may apply for leaves of absence with pay will be determined by the departments concerned, taking into consideration length of service since achieving tenure, rank, and age. The order thus established shall be subject to the approval of the Dean of the Faculty.

h. The pattern of leaves with pay must be compatible with the staffing needs of departments and the University Studies Division. In particular, leaves will only be granted that are compatible with the maintenance of a department's regular course offerings.

i. By mutual agreement, and with the approval of the division director, two members of a department may exchange years in which their leaves of absence with pay are taken. Such exchanges will not affect the leave order as established by the department with respect to future leaves. Any postponement of leave with pay for more than one year will also postpone all subsequent leaves, unless such postponement is specifically requested by the University.

j. A faculty member may count not more than one year of absence without pay toward the six years of service necessary for a leave with pay.

k. A faculty member is normally expected to return to Colgate for at least one full year of teaching after taking a leave with pay.

l. Exceptions to these regulations may be made only by order of the President. Subject to the President's approval, the interpretation of their application in any situation will be made by the Dean of the Faculty.

6. Senior Faculty Leaves Each year one or more Senior Faculty Leaves may be granted, on a competitive basis, by application to the Research Council. Only tenured members of the faculty are eligible to apply. Guidelines and application forms may be obtained from either the Research Council or the Dean of the Faculty's Office.