The College offers two basic options in its sabbatical leave program for tenured faculty. Tenured faculty may apply either for a full sabbatical (year-long) or for a mini-sabbatical (semester-long). Sabbatical Salary Grants are awarded during a term of paid leave when external salary funding is unavailable to provide a “top-up” from the standard 75% sabbatical salary.
Applications for sabbatical grants are submitted to the Dean of the Faculty’s office via the online application by December 1st in the year preceding the academic year when a term of sabbatical will take place.
Instructions for applying for the Sabbatical Grant and a link to the online application are included below.
Sabbatical Leaves for Tenured Faculty Policy
Tenured faculty are eligible for a full sabbatical after completing six consecutive years of teaching, which normally includes three Winter Study offerings. Under this option, the faculty member may choose either a year of leave paid with 3/4 salary or a semester leave with full salary (Faculty Handbook, Section II-O).
Seeking External Grant Funding
Developing a deeper understanding of the grant application process and cultivating relationships with external partners is beneficial to the faculty who apply, to their students, and to the College:
- The process of writing grant proposals helps faculty to look at their research objectively and evaluate how their scholarship contributes to the work of other scholars within their discipline.
- The peer-review process helps create awareness about their research among respected scholars.
- Successful proposals provide faculty with opportunities to further their own scholarship in ways that otherwise may not have been possible, and these experiences in turn enrich their teaching.
The college seeks to encourage a culture of active grant-seeking among its faculty members and expects faculty members to make every effort to secure funding from external grant sources to supplement their sabbatical salaries.
However, if a tenured faculty professor is unable to secure external funding, the college is committed to ensuring that no faculty member receives less than 100% of their base institutional salary during a period of paid leave. Therefore, this sabbatical salary grant program provides an opportunity for tenured faculty members to apply for backstop funding to bring their sabbatical salary up to 100% of their base institutional salary, where applicable.
Sabbatical Salary Grant Details
Eligibility:
- Sabbatical salary grants are available to tenured faculty eligible for a mini-sabbatical or a full sabbatical.
- These grants aim to support tenured faculty members in maintaining up to 100% of their base institutional salary during their paid sabbatical leave, taking into account the 75% base sabbatical salary already provided by the College, along with any external funds that may be obtained.
- Sabbatical salary grants and/or external grants awarded may not be used to exceed what a faculty member’s 100% annual income will be.
- It is the College’s belief those whose projects are appropriate for outside funding or other forms of external support are expected to apply for it.
- Sabbatical salary grants support projects for professional development and active scholarship while a faculty member is on paid leave.
Terms:
- The supplement can be applied either to a one-semester mini-sabbatical (3/4 pay for one semester after 3 consecutive years of teaching) or to a full sabbatical (3/4 pay for one year after 6 consecutive years of teaching). Grants will provide either 1/4 salary or the amount necessary to bring 3/4 salary plus any outside salary grant or other outside remuneration to the level of the annual academic salary, whichever is less.
- Consult with your department chair and the chairs of any relevant interdepartmental programs to be sure that the timing of your leave and any unpaid extensions of that leave are consistent with department and program needs. This should ideally be planned well in advance and should also be accurately reflected in the departmental and program staffing reports that are sent to the CAP each spring.
- If you have already obtained full funding from an external source, please let us know. It is still possible that the College will be able to award you additional research funds.
- If you receive any outside remuneration during the period of your sabbatical, you should immediately notify the Director of the Grants Office, Brenda Thomas (x5053).
- Grant applications frequently require you to list the expected support from your institution. As this program is supplemental, you should answer that Williams will provide you with a 3/4 salary for the duration of the paid sabbatical leave.
The Sabbatical Salary Grant Application
Please click on the link above to submit an application for a Sabbatical Salary Grant.
In the application, you will be prompted to fill in summary information and attach a short proposal and other supporting documents. The following information will be required:
- a project title and brief abstract (250 characters or less, and please note that this title and abstract may be used in an online list to publicize active faculty research projects at Williams College);
- a leave timetable, i.e., confirm the semester(s) in which you are taking a paid sabbatical, and if applicable, in which semester(s) you are taking unpaid leave; if one or more unpaid leave semesters are still pending external funding, please let us know;
- a list of any outside agencies being approached for support, including any that have already pledged support and the amount of salary or research funding provided; if no other proposals for external funding are being submitted, please explain the circumstances;
- project description and results expected; briefly describe the nature and goals of the project in non-technical language; one single-spaced page should suffice;
- a current CV
Deadline: Please be sure to submit your sabbatical grant application by December 1st of the year preceding the planned term of the sabbatical.
Megamenu Social