ii. Timeline for Sabbatical Leave
December 15: For any sabbatical leaves starting between July 1 to June 30 of the next year, the applicant shall submit a sabbatical leave request to the appropriate academic unit leader.
January 1: The academic unit leader forwards the application to the provost along with their recommendation. In the case of a department chair or program director, a copy of the application is also sent to the appropriate dean. Where there is no department chair, the dean sends the application and recommendation to the provost. The recommendation should address the following:
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the impact of the leave on program and MGH Institute goals and operations
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a plan to assure that the applicant’s duties are adequately met during the leave
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the rationale for the recommendation
If more than one application is received, the department chair, director, or dean will rank order the applications and provide the rationale for each.
January 1: A sabbatical leave committee shall be appointed for a one-year term by the provost. The committee shall be made up of senior faculty (excluding department chairs and deans) with representation from each school. In making appointments, the provost will consider potential conflicts of interest. The purpose of the committee is to evaluate the soundness of the applicants’ sabbatical leave plan. In addition, the committee will consider the relationship of the proposed sabbatical to the mission of the MGH Institute.
The committee will make a recommendation to the provost based upon the criteria. The committee has three options: highly recommend, recommend if the logistics can be worked out, and do not recommend. They will rank order applications. The committee also will address the impact on the mission of the MGH Institute, evaluate the consequences of the absence of the faculty member, and provide the rationale for ranking.
The sabbatical leave committee does not review and make recommendations for non-voting key academic leader’s’ requests for sabbatical leave.
February 15: The provost makes a recommendation in writing, along with supporting rationale to be presented to the board of trustees for consideration at its March meeting.
March: Applicants will be notified of the action of the trustees in writing by the provost following the trustees’ meeting.