University of Washington
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Guidelines for Faculty Leaves Without Pay
Basic Issue
The University has a clear policy concerning
paid professional leaves (sabbaticals): You
can apply for one every seven years; it can be
three quarters at 2/3's pay, two quarters at 3/4's
pay, or one quarter at full pay; the department
chair sends a prioritized list of departmental
requests to the Dean, who goes as far down
the list as s/he can. (The criteria for
prioritization are unspecified.)
And the Department has a clear understanding concerning
research release time (quarters released from
teaching): You can apply for at most one per
year; the department chair will try to grant
it, but prioritization may be necessary in the
event that we are having difficulty covering
our instructional responsibilities. (Again, the
criteria for prioritization are unspecified.)
In each case, the key thing is that everyone
knows what "a reasonable request" is -- it's
totally reasonable to request a sabbatical
every seven years (but not more frequently, and
it may not be possible to grant it in every
instance);
it's totally reasonable to request a release
quarter every year (but it may not be possible
to grant it in every instance).
We have not had a similar shared understanding
concerning unpaid professional leaves -- "leaves
without pay."
Guidelines [2/98]
The purpose of the faculty meeting
discussion was to establish a first-cut
shared understanding of our approach to
leaves without pay, which makes life easier on
everyone -- those making requests, those reviewing requests,
and those wondering from the sidelines about the basis for
decisions. While it's true that there are all kinds of
ways to "not do your job" (an argument
advanced against promulgating any guidelines),
the fact is that we do have a shared
understanding of our expectations in areas such as teaching,
research, service, and release time: "Oh, gosh, I had no idea!"
isn't really a credible response in those areas.
While there wasn't unanimity, here's the "concensus" that
we reached:
- In CSE, a faculty member should feel comfortable requesting an
unpaid leave of absence to pursue a special opportunity.
- The normal basis for granting such requests is that the specific
request is felt by the chair to be in the best long-range interest
of the department and the individual.
- We don't intend unpaid leaves of absence to be used on a
recurring basis to support an ongoing relationship between the
faculty member and a company or other academic institution --
that is, to support an ongoing reduction in a faculty member's
commitment to CSE.
- As with release time, granting an unpaid leave of absence will
be contingent on being able to cover the faculty member's other
departmental responsibilities.
lazowska at cs dot washington dot edu