Merit Policy for Faculty Leaves

(see Faculty Handbook, Section III.D.2)

Faculty members who are on academic leave as defined in the Faculty Handbook for a semester or calendar year will have their teaching and service points continued from the previous semester or year on leave according to the following procedures.

Academic Leave

For faculty who are on SSRL for one semester out of the calendar year being evaluated:

• In teaching and service, the department may either (1) annualize the one semester’s worth of teaching and service work done by the faculty member, i.e., will act as if the faculty member had done exactly the same thing in the semester when they were gone as when they were here, or (2) use the average of a faculty member’s scores in teaching and service from the previous two years of merit evaluations. Faculty should let their Chair/Director know which option they would like to choose prior to the deadline for the submission of merit materials for the year under review. In scholarship, the faculty member will be evaluated on the basis of activities during the year under review, just as if they were not on leave.

For faculty who are on SSRL for both semesters of the calendar year being evaluated:

• In teaching and service, the department will average the faculty member’s scores from the previous two years in which the faculty member was not on leave. In scholarship, the faculty member will be evaluated on the basis of activities during the year under review, just as if they were not on leave.

Other Academic Leave

Faculty on “other academic leave” as defined in the Faculty Handbook (for example, “teaching at another institution; employment in a government or comparable agency; research supported by a grant, by another institution or by the faculty member; and/or travel”) will be evaluated using the same processes as if they were on SSRL, unless scholarship is not an expectation during the leave (for example, full-time work at a government agency), in which case the process for non-academic leave will be followed (see below).

Educational Leave

Faculty on educational leave as defined in the Faculty Handbook (ie “for specific courses of study related to the academic work of the faculty member”) will be evaluated according to the process for non-academic leave.

Non-Academic Leave

Faculty members on non-academic leave as defined in the Faculty Handbook (ie. disability leave, family/medical leave, or parental care leave) are awarded the average of their service, teaching, and research points over the two previous years, or, at their discretion, the average score for the year under review of all full-time faculty in the department who were evaluated using the specific merit scale appropriate to the faculty member who was on leave. Faculty should let their Chair/Director know which option they would like to choose prior to the deadline for the submission of merit materials for the year under review. Under unusual circumstances, the department may determine that the faculty member may be evaluated on another basis.