Guidelines for Special Leave

Senate Faculty Affairs Committee

The Faculty Affairs Committee encourages all eligible full-time faculty members to apply for a Special Scholarly Leave, a Special Teaching Leave, or both.  According to Faculty Policy Series #22, “members of the instructional staff with five years of continuous full-time service at Hofstra University shall be eligible.  They become eligible for subsequent Special Leaves five years from the start of the previous leave.”   By contract, the total number of leaves (Scholarly and Teaching) allowed each year shall be 13.5% of the number of full-time faculty in the bargaining unit who have completed five years of service at the commencement of the fall semester in which the leaves are granted.  Leaves are distributed proportionally throughout the various academic units.

Applicants for a Scholarly Leave submit their proposals to their chairs, whose recommendations are forwarded to the appropriate deans.   Applicants for a Teaching Leave submit to chairs, who forward their recommendations to the Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence.  The Faculty Affairs Committee reads all applications and recommendations and submits its recommendation for the dispersal of all scholarly and teaching leaves to the Provost.

Eligibility.  Full-time faculty of any rank may apply in their fifth year of continuous service for their first proposed leave.  Faculty seeking a subsequent leave may apply no sooner than the fourth academic year after their last leave for a proposed leave in the following year.  If your last leave was in 2007-08, you are eligible to apply in 2011-12 for a leave to be taken in 2012-13.

The Application.   You may submit separate and distinct proposals for both Scholarly and Teaching leaves; however, applicants can be awarded only one leave.  Your application should consist of a cover letter, proposal, and vita.

• In the brief cover letter addressed to your chair, indicate the topic or title of your proposal and when (fall or spring semester) you would like to take your leave.  If you have received a special leave in the past, indicate when that leave was taken, and the results of that leave.
• The focus of your application should be a project proposal of about 4-5 single-spaced pages.  It should be a concise and clearly-written explanation intelligible to colleagues, most of whom are likely to be non-specialists in your field.  Indicate the importance of your project, its possible impact on your field of study, how far along you are in the project, and what you hope to accomplish during your proposed leave.  Applicants proposing collaborative projects should provide details of their particular involvement.
• Your current vita should include a publication history and a summary of service at the University.   Special Teaching leave applicants should include evidence of a commitment to good teaching (CTR’s, peer evaluations, etc. as per guidelines distributed by the Center for Teaching Excellence).

Criteria.  In compliance with FPS #22, the Committee ranks proposals according to the significance of the proposed project as a contribution to knowledge, curricular developments, and the reputation of the University.  It also considers the time since your last special leave; the degree to which the goals of previous special leaves were met; the likelihood of significant progress in or completion of the project as a result of the special leave; the applicant’s service to the University; and in (the case of Special Teaching Leaves) evidence of good teaching.

09/11