This text is taken directly from the yearly announcement sent by the Executive Assistant to the VPAA. While the dates are updated annually, the overall content remains the same.
Tenured faculty members are eligible for a paid leave (70% for a full year, or at full salary for a semester) after six years of full-time service to the College since joining the faculty or after six years of full-time service since their last paid leave. Pre-tenure faculty members are eligible for a one semester leave at full pay after two years of service in a tenurable position at the College. The leaves for pre-tenure faculty are taken during the two-year period preceding the scheduled tenure decision. Faculty members who are granted and take a pre-tenure paid leave are eligible for their first paid leave six years from the date of the pre-tenure leave.
Leave applications are submitted to department chairs by September 15, 20XX for the following academic year or any part thereof. So for example, to request sabbatical for Spring semester 2026, the paid leave request is due to the chair on September 15, 2024. Department chairpersons review the leave proposals of their faculty and electronically submit the proposal and their recommendation to the VPAA and Dean of Faculty by September 30, 20XX. The chairperson recommendation should include a statement justifying the recommendation and a statement regarding the extent to which replacement instructional staff is needed for the faculty member who has requested the leave. (Replacement staffing is not guaranteed.) When more than one application is made within a department, the chair should provide a ranking of all proposals as part of the recommendation. The VPAA will make recommendations regarding leave applications to the president. The president will then make recommendations to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees in time for a committee recommendation to the Board at its February meeting. For faculty who face a reappointment recommendation decision between the leave application deadline and the proposed semester of leave, the Board’s approval of leave requests is contingent upon reappointment recommendations.
The criteria for reviewing and approving faculty paid leave requests are: 1. The significance of the proposed project to the faculty member and to the College; 2. the timing and outcome of previous paid leave projects; 3. the ability of the applicant’s department to accommodate the absence of the applicant without adverse consequence to the department schedule of course offerings; and 4. application for external funding of proposed project.
Your application can be in any format as long as the information requested below is provided. Please sign and date your application.
Date of requested leave. For tenured faculty, state whether you are applying for a year (at 70% pay) or a term (at full pay), indicating which semesters. Your choice of leave date and length of leave (one or two semesters) depends upon a variety of factors, including potential external funding. Changes in these factors may cause you to change your leave plans. Changes will be accommodated to the extent possible. Generally, plans will be considered final by April 1 of the spring semester preceding the academic year of the requested leave.
An up-to-date vita. Attach a current vita to the leave request.
Paid leave history. Please indicate the dates of your previous paid leaves, and describe the purposes and results of each one. It is sufficient to provide a copy of the application and post-leave report associated with these leaves. August 1, 20XX
Project. Please describe the project and the purpose of the leave request in moderate detail (3 to 5 pages should suffice), and in language that someone outside your field can understand. A short bibliography of previous work central to your project is useful. Project results. Please state the expected results of the project and, to the extent possible, a schedule for completion and, where appropriate, publication. Examples of results include published articles, book chapters, books, or completion of a creative work or the development of a new area of expertise or the acquisition of new pedagogical skills or other significant curricular developments. [Please note: the provost has clarified that sabbatical projects must be focused on research/creative work and not on curricular or pedagogical development, unless the project has a significant scholarly/creative component.]
Project significance. Explain why the proposed project is appropriate for your professional development at this time. Describe the impact of the completed project on the future course of your career. Explain how this project contributes to the goals and objectives of the College. Be as specific as possible.
External funding for project. Identify external sources from which you have sought or are seeking support for your project. Describe the status of these funding requests.
For both semester and year-long leaves, a final report assessing how project goals and objectives were accomplished is due in the VPAA and Dean of Faculty office by August 15th. Reports are to be submitted electronically.
Obligation to Return. Tenured Faculty members granted a paid leave are obligated to serve on the staff of the College for at least one year after the expiration of their leave unless this provision is expressly waived by the Board. Pre-tenure faculty members who decide to leave St. Mary’s in the year following the granting of these course releases, will be expected to reimburse the College at the current rate of $4,000 per course release.
Some faculty members, especially those whose research regularly involves student associates and can take place in part during the academic year as part of teaching responsibilities, or those who, as pre-tenured faculty, wish to wait until after their tenure decision to apply for a paid leave, may apply for one of the following alternatives.
Pre-Tenure Faculty Course Release Option. Pre-tenure faculty are eligible to apply for two course releases for their faculty development, to be taken simultaneously or separately during the two-year period preceding their scheduled tenure year. Faculty members may apply for such releases by making application as described above for traditional paid leaves.
Post-Tenure Faculty Course Release Option. Post-tenure faculty are eligible to apply for three course releases for their faculty development during any six-year period since their last leave or their start of employment at the College in a tenurable position. Faculty members may apply for such releases by making application as described above for traditional paid leaves. Post-tenure faculty members who accept course release options will not be eligible for another such option, or for a paid leave, until the expiration of six years following the six-year period during which a course release option or a paid leave was taken.
The standard has been to write one all-encompassing letter addressing multiple (if that's the case) paid leave requests with a brief one- or two-line summary of each (attach the proposals themselves for full context). Then, address whether you as chair endorse this request, both in terms of merit, and in terms of how your colleagues' absence will impact your program.
Follow up with an explanation of how you would respond to their leave, whether or not you endorse it (you might not approve, but the provost might grant it anyway). So briefly explain what courses would be cut from the rotation, or what funding you would request for an adjunct/visitor, and why that'd be necessary.
Finally, you're instructed to prioritize/rank your department's leave requests, which is never much fun, but is a confidential communication between chair and provost. Most chairs base their ranking favoring those who have never had paid leave before and those with stronger project requests. The chair's letter is rarely more than two pages (depending on how many paid leave requests are being addressed), and is submitted along with the proposals themselves directly to the provost.
Here's an example that might offer some broad direction of how to approach a chair's letter for paid leave.