The College offers several opportunities for leaves and release time awards, to provide additional time for faculty to pursue research/scholarship or other professional activities.
A sabbatical leave is granted for the express purpose of providing an opportunity for faculty members to enhance their professional development through projects of research, written scholarship, or similar creative endeavors. The project must enhance the individual’s ability as an educator in the classroom and/or promote scholarship in one’s academic discipline. Sabbatical leaves can be awarded for one year at half-salary, or one semester at full salary. The deadline for the electronic submission of sabbatical applications to the Administrative Assistants of the Deans is 4:30 p.m. on the second Friday of October. Eligibility and application format is available on the Faculty Resources website and in Appendix B. Faculty will be notified by January 1. Reports are due within three months of the end of the sabbatical.
Course Releases for Professors of Practice
Professors of Practice are eligible after sixteen (16) semesters of full-time teaching at Stonehill College to apply for a two-course reduction in their teaching load for one semester to focus on pedagogy. The process for applying for the two-course release is being developed and will be in the 2024 – 2025 Faculty Handbook.
Conboy Award for Faculty Development
The Conboy Award provides a course release in one semester to advance the research of an Assistant or Associate Professor; two offered per year; competitive; priority given to faculty who have not benefited from a course load reduction in the previous two years. Criteria and procedure for application are available on the Faculty Resources website. The deadline for the electronic submission of applications to the Administrative Assistants of the Deans is 4:30 p.m. on the first Friday of December. Applicants will be notified by the end of December. Reports are due at the beginning of the semester following the one in which release time was awarded. Visiting faculty and Professors of Practice are not eligible to apply for the Conboy Award for Faculty Development.
If opportunities such as funded fellowships or research grants become available, faculty are encouraged to consider them. An authorized Leave of Absence (for purposes other than those covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act Policy) without pay is not considered a Sabbatical Leave. The College grants such leaves only under special circumstances and only if the leave does not seriously impair the teaching mission of the College.
The application for a Leave of Absence must be presented to the Vice President for Academic Affairs who, after consultation with the appropriate Dean and Department Chairperson, forwards a recommendation to the President for final action. The application must normally be submitted 12 months in advance, but this schedule is flexible.
An authorized Leave of Absence for one academic year or less is not ordinarily considered to be an interruption of service to the College, in consideration of tenure, promotion, retirement, or salary increments.