Sabbatical Leave Application & Return Request
Application
(Updated September 9, 2025)
Introduction
A faculty sabbatical leave1 is a privilege granted to qualified academic appointees to enable them to engage in intensive scholarship and/or study programs and thus enhance their subsequent service to the University by increasing their effectiveness as scholars. An individual on regular sabbatical leave is expected to devote full time to research, writing, or equivalent approved activity. A librarian's sabbatical leave provides an opportunity to increase knowledge, further scholarship, expand skills, and enhance professional development. The common objective is to enhance the librarian’s capacity for service to the University Libraries.
Goal
A sound program of sabbatical leave is vital to the University because it provides faculty members or librarians with the opportunity for continued professional growth and new or renewed intellectual achievement through study, research, scholarship, writing, or artistic endeavors.
Purpose of Sabbatical Leave
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth promotes the search for new knowledge and its transmission through discovery, learning, and engagement. To maintain the high level of academic excellence necessary to achieve these objectives, it is important for faculty and librarians to update and strengthen their professional skills periodically. Sabbatical leave provides faculty and librarians the release time needed to work with other scholars, conduct field research, engage in creative activity, and/or travel to other libraries, archives, and research centers. The University invests in sabbatical leave with the expectation that the leave will significantly enhance the faculty’s or librarian’s capacity to contribute to the University’s mission. Sabbaticals are not granted to write or revise textbooks, retrain for a different position, merely visit locations of interest, perform full-time work at another institution, or complete a terminal degree. Full-pay sabbatical leaves are not granted to individuals employed full-time or part-time at another institution.
Terms and conditions
Sabbatical leaves for faculty shall be for
- one semester at full pay, or
- one academic year at half-pay, or
- one semester at half-pay.
Fall sabbaticals begin on September 1 and end on January 15th of the following year. Spring sabbaticals are from January 16th through May 31st. Under exceptional circumstances, with the approval of the chair, dean, and provost, a one-year, half-pay sabbatical may span two academic years (one calendar year spanning spring-fall terms).
Sabbatical leave for librarians shall be for a half year, either from July 1 to December 31st or from January 1 to June 30.
A subsequent sabbatical leave may not begin before an individual has completed full-time service for six years (72 months) since the end of the most recent sabbatical leave. If a sabbatical is for one semester at half-pay, a subsequent sabbatical leave may not begin before an individual has completed full-time service for three years (36 months) since the end of the most recent sabbatical leave.
Leave criteria
A sabbatical leave is granted based on the following criteria:
- A record of achievement, service, and contribution during the years of service prior to the leave period that provides a reasonable expectation that the objectives of the sabbatical project will be achieved.
- A sabbatical leave project that promises to contribute to the development of the faculty member or librarian in areas of research, creative or scholarly activity, and/or professional service capability (for librarians), and will benefit the institution as a whole upon the participant’s return to the university for at least one year following the end of the sabbatical leave.
Department chairs’ and deans' recommendations for awarding sabbatical leave should explain how these criteria have been or will be met.
Reimbursement for travel during Sabbatical Leave
The travel cost related to conference presentations while on sabbatical leave is reimbursable from appropriate grants, indirect cost recoveries, and miscellaneous revenue accounts with approval from the Chair and Dean, as required by University policies.
One-time travel to and from a remote working location may be supported by indirect recovery or a miscellaneous revenue account. These costs should be detailed Sabbatical Leave application and approved at the time the sabbatical leave is approved. In general, living and other incidental costs are not reimbursable.
Sabbatical reports
Upon return from the sabbatical, the faculty member or librarian must submit a summary of sabbatical activities within 30 days. Recognizing that outputs (books, journal papers, and other outputs) may take additional time, faculty and librarians must submit all the outputs of their sabbatical leave at the end of three years after the sabbatical. This report will be used to evaluate subsequent sabbatical applications.
Applications are due in the Provost’s Office by December 1st
1 Before submitting an application for a sabbatical leave, please review the Trustees/Faculty Federation Agreement, Article IX, sections B and C which describe the procedures and policies that pertain to sabbatical leave applications. Some of the important contractual policies regarding sabbaticals are cited on the next page.