Professional Development

Sabbatical leave is designed to provide full-time instructors who are on continuing contract with opportunities for professional renewal, formal education, research, writing, faculty development, certification, or other experiences of professional value with the goal of becoming more effective faculty and to enhance their service to the College. The sabbatical may vary in length from one semester to one full contract year.

Requests for sabbatical leave will only be considered when they align with the following activities in accordance with the requirements of F.S. 1012.82:

• Updating professional skills through participation in training or in-service education programs;
• Formal academic research intended to produce results worthy of publication;
• Structured professional pursuit not involving formal academic coursework including, but not limited to, writing with intent to publish, artistic endeavors, and technical projects.

Eligibility: 

An employee is eligible to apply for a sabbatical if he/she has at least seven (7) consecutive years of full-time satisfactory service, has completed at least two (2) years on continuing contract, and has not received a sabbatical with pay within the previous seven (7) years.

Application Process:

Applicants must initiate the sabbatical leave application process with their department chair or immediate supervisor, in agreement with the appropriate Associate Vice President and Provost. Applications submitted in the fall semester will request sabbatical leave to occur during the following academic year following the submission of the request. Example: applications submitted in fall 2019 will request sabbatical leave during the 2020-2021 academic year. 

The granting of a sabbatical leave should not create undue hardship or disruption for students or coworkers and should not unduly limit College functions. If a proposal includes a request for College funds for a temporary employee, materials, or other related expenses, a budget must be attached to the sabbatical application and separately approved by the President or designee.

Timeline

• Information regarding sabbatical opportunities will be distributed by the Office of Professional Development early in the fall semester.
• Applications will be submitted to the appropriate department chair by 4 p.m. on the last working day in October, to be forwarded to the Office of Professional Development.
• The Sabbatical Committee will forward recommendations to the Executive Staff by the Friday of the week prior to the last week of fall semester classes.
• Recommendations from the Executive Staff will be submitted to the President by mid-March for the April Board of Trustees meeting.
• Faculty will be notified of their award status prior to the close of the spring semester. 

Obligation to the College:

A recipient of the sabbatical leave will be obligated to return to the service of the College. The recipient will have an obligation of service time equal to the period of leave taken. Should the recipient not return to the College or terminate before his/her obligation is satisfied, the employee will reimburse the College for the amount of outstanding obligation. The President may waive any and/or all obligations.

It is not intended that an individual should accept other full-time employment during the period of sabbatical leave, because an individual on sabbatical leave continues to be employed full-time in their current position by the College. An employee on sabbatical leave may accept a grant for study, research or travel from an institution of higher education or from a charitable, religious or educational corporation or foundation, from any business enterprise, or from any state, federal, or local government, but may not accept paid employment of any kind except as may be specifically approved by the President, as required by this procedure, will be required to return all compensation received from the College during the sabbatical period.

Application:

The Application for Sabbatical Leave is available below.

Please direct any questions to Rachael Dougherty.