Sabbatical Leave Regulations

Sabbatical leaves are established and encouraged to promote the professional growth and development of the faculty. Procedures are articulated in Article 26, Sabbatical Leave Policy, of the current Agreement between WMU and the AAUP. Following is the Sabbatical Leave Application information for those seeking a sabbatical leave during the upcoming year. Applications must be submitted to the department chair by the contractual deadline.

Those persons qualified to apply include the following:

• All tenured faculty members with six years of service at Western Michigan University who have not had a sabbatical leave for a period of at least six years.
• All faculty members in the sixth and final year of probation for tenure and who receive positive recommendations for tenure. Please note, however, that the disposition of applications from those faculty members who do not yet have tenure will be delayed until the Board of Trustees makes final decisions concerning tenure.

To assure that faculty members know about this opportunity so they can submit applications in a timely manner, please review the following dates in your regular college and department meetings. In addition, remind all applicants that incomplete or inadequate applications will not be considered. In this context, an adequate application will identify a carefully-defined project, respond to the stipulated criteria, and/or contain sufficient information to support the proposal and allow an informed judgment about its potential to advance the individual’s professional development.

See sabbatical leave policy and deadlines can be found in the current WMU-AAUP Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Deans will inform the applicants and their chairs and directors of their recommendations and allow for timely appeals prior to forwarding materials to the University Sabbatical Leave Committee.

The University Sabbatical Leave Committee shall inform each applicant whether the committee is or is not recommending approval of his/her application, with concurrent notice of said decision to the department chairperson and the dean. Appeals to the committee shall be in accordance with procedures developed by the committee. The committee shall not recommend or entertain revised proposals which differ from those submitted initially.

The successful applicants will receive 75 percent of base salary for two semesters, depending upon the period approved for the leave; 25 percent of base salary will normally remain with the college and department. If the sabbatical is for one semester only, the successful applicant will receive 100 percent of base salary. Deans and chairs will have the responsibility to develop staffing plans for the department in response to student and programmatic needs.