Sabbatical Leave and Visitor Process Information

Please inform the MSO and Chair immediately you plan to go on leave for the coming year.  The MSO will give you the appropriate leave request form to complete.  Leave request forms are due back for Chairs' review no later than middle of January, before the beginning of the Spring semester.  We need to know your leave plans by January each year in order to meet tight deadlines for course scheduling and temporary academic staffing budget decisions.  NE faculty requesting leaves after the deadline must provide a suitable replacement to teach their classes.

Leave Types

1. Sabbatical Leaves
2. Research Leaves Paid by ERSO
3. Leave Without Pay
4. Short-Term Leave (7 calendar days or less)
5. Administrative Leave
6. Childbearing Leave, Parental Leave Without Pay, and Active Service-Modified Duties

Sabbatical Leaves

Sabbatical leaves are of two types (copied from APM – 740):
a.  Regular sabbatical leave provides salary at varying percentages of regular salary, depending on the amount of accrued sabbatical leave credit and the option elected by the eligible appointee.  (See Sabbatical Leave Qualifying Service Credit Table)  An individual on such regular sabbatical leave is excused from all regular duties to enable full-time effort to research and/or study.

b.   Sabbatical leave in residence at the University may be granted to a faculty member who is eligible for a regular sabbatical and who, in addition to a program of research and/or study, will teach at the home campus or another U.C. campus.  The faculty member shall teach one class which meets regularly at least three hours each week during each term of the sabbatical period or will perform an equivalent amount of instructional service in a course or in a clinical setting regarded as essential to the program of that campus.  A faculty member on sabbatical leave in residence who meets this teaching requirement shall be freed from all other teaching obligations and from all committee and administrative work.

The Chancellor may grant an exception to allow a faculty member to substitute significant University service for some or all of the teaching/instructional requirements described above.  Requests for such substitution must be included in the application for sabbatical leave.  The Chancellor shall develop guidelines for what constitutes significant service. When a sabbatical leave is spent in residence on a campus other than the home campus, the host campus shall assume the responsibility for payment of the additional salary.  (Instructions for preparation of necessary forms for this purpose are given in the University wide Accounting Manual section P-196-38, Payroll: Intercampus Transfers and Appointments.)  For approval of such a leave by both Chancellors see APM - 740-24.

Additional Comments on Sabbatical Leave

1. The Sabbatical Leave Qualifying Service Credit Table shows the number of sabbatical leave credits required for various lengths and percentages of sabbatical leaves.
2. One semester of sabbatical leave credit is earned in each semester that a faculty member works at least 50% time. This means that if you go on a 50% research leave (or less), you would still earn a sabbatical leave credit, but if you go on a 51% research leave (or more), you would not.
3. Faculty members who wish to take a sabbatical leave that would not use up all their accumulated sabbatical leave credits may request deferral of the unused credits. If the request is approved, the unused credits will remain available for use the next time a sabbatical leave is taken.
4. Generally speaking, the minimum sabbatical leave in NE is one semester at 67% salary; the 44% and 56% levels are only used if the faculty member only has 4 or 5 sabbatical leave credits accumulated.
5. A sabbatical leave is applied for, and applications are reviewed and approved by the Chair and the Dean based on Departmental academic staffing and other considerations. The application requires a Sabbatical Leave Program Statement, which must accompany sabbatical leave paperwork.  See attached Sabbatical Leave Program Statement guidelines.
6. Upon return from sabbatical leave, a brief Sabbatical Report must be filed with the Department, giving a "statement of progress on the project described in the sabbatical application". See attached Sabbatical Leave Program Report guidelines.

Your Pay During Sabbatical Leave

University policies preclude faculty members from receiving additional compensation while on sabbatical leave (e.g., from a host institution) except for nominal honoraria or travel reimbursements. The only exceptions to this rule are that faculty may receive research funds from UCB sponsored research projects (if they will be working on these projects during the leave). This is often used during a partial salary sabbatical to bring the level of salary up to 100% (e.g., a 67% salary sabbatical may be supplemented by 33% salary from ERSO funds). Salary may also be supplemented up to 100% by a host university, when a faculty member is engaged in a research or teaching project at a foreign university.

Research Leaves Paid by ERSO

A research leave uses extramural funding to release a faculty member from some fraction of his/her teaching duties in order to pursue a period of intensive research. Research leaves are normally pursued in residence, but are often combined with a partial sabbatical leave and are spent somewhere other than at Berkeley. Please note that regular faculty salary pay periods are different from the ERSO's pay periods. Your salary as an NE professor is paid over 12 months (July 1 to June 30 each year), while funds housed in ERSO are paid out at a higher monthly rate over 9 months (September 1 to May 31).

Leave Without Pay

Going on Industrial Leave or other forms of leave can involve Leave Without Pay from your faculty appointment. If your faculty appointment level drops below 50%, you can lose your UC benefits. At any level, Leave Without Pay reduces your retirement service credit accrual. If you are considering a period of Leave Without Pay status contact the MSO.  Also, review the UC Benefits Leave Without Pay Checklist.

Short-Term Leave (7 calendar days or less)

Please complete the Short-Term Leave Request at least one week before an anticipated short absence (or as soon as possible after you learn of a need to be away), and return it to the MSO.

Administrative Leave

An administrative leave is a special leave to take on substantial administrative duties for the Department, the campus, or the University. Many of the leadership positions within the Department include administrative leave by tradition (e.g., 100% for the Chair and Associate Chair), providing service in lieu of teaching. For a faculty member with a substantial service commitment to the campus or University, the Chair may choose to reduce the service load of that faculty member within the Department.

Childbearing Leave, Parental Leave Without Pay, and Active Service-Modified Duties

For new parents, the University makes a number of provisions. These include Childbearing Leave, Parental Leave Without Pay, and "Active Service-Modified Duties," (reduced responsibilities).

"AS-MD" is not technically a leave, but is a special arrangement for faculty members in the first year of parenthood with each new child. Its intent is to grant "a period in which normal duties are reduced" for any appointee who certifies he/she has responsibility for "at least 50% of the care of a newborn child or child under age five placed for adoption or foster care." Eligibility for AS-MD normally extends from 3 months prior to 12 months following the birth or placement, and ends 12 months following that event. In requesting AS-MD, the faculty member is asked to verify in writing that he/she has "responsibility for at least 50% of the care of my newly-born or adopted child during this period." "Reduced responsibilities" under AS-MD is interpreted as relief from teaching duties, with light committee assignments during the semester involved. UC policies on Childbearing Leave, Parental Leave Without Pay, and AS-MD are detailed in APM 760.

An application for sabbatical leave shall be submitted through appropriate channels to the Chancellor. Sabbatical leaves are not granted as a matter of individual right. Leaves are accorded to individuals in good standing to enable them to further their research or other creative activities and in doing so, to enhance their service to the University. The application form shall be accompanied by a statement providing in detail the following information:

1. A brief history of the project, from inception through progress to date and projection as to completion date. This history shall include a description of the applicant’s preparation and any significant contributions already made in the field of activity with which the project is concerned.
2. Significance of the project as a contribution to knowledge, to art, to a particular profession, or as an expected contribution to the applicant’s increased effectiveness as a teacher and scholar.
3. Name(s) of the location(s) or institution(s) where the project will be carried out, and the names of colleagues, if any, with whom it will be conducted.
4. Assurances of cooperation, or authorization to conduct the project, received from individuals, institutions, or agencies.
5. Description of all financial support expected during the sabbatical leave for professional activities, except as provided in APM - 025 and APM - 670. Description of any fellowship, grant and/or government-sponsored exchange lectureship. Description of any proposed arrangement under which the appointee would receive additional salary for research in accordance with APM - 740-18-c, any associated intellectual property-related issues, and actions proposed to assure that all obligations under the University intellectual property policies are preserved.

Within ninety calendar days following return from leave, the recipient of a sabbatical leave shall submit to the Chancellor a concise report of the results of the leave, to include the following:

1. Account of activities during the leave, including travel itineraries, institutions and locations visited, persons with whom there was extensive consultation or collaboration, and any formal lectures delivered.
2. Statement of progress made on the project as proposed in the application.
3. Explanation of any significant changes from the initial approved proposal.
4. Appraisal of the relationship between the results anticipated in the leave project statement and those actually achieved.
5. Summary of any intellectual property issues.
6. Statement of future activity related to the project, including plans for completion of the project and publication of results.

The report shall become a part of the supporting materials submitted with any proposal for subsequent promotion or merit increase.

Regular Sabbatical (Off-Campus)

** Salary is an average which may be paid unequally in different terms of leave.