Sabbatical Eligibility
Tenured faculty members must serve 6 years at New York University in order to be eligible to apply for a sabbatical leave. Following 12 semesters of service, tenured faculty are eligible to apply for a one semester of sabbatical leave at full pay or one academic year at ¾ pay. Alternatively, faculty members may choose to apply for a one-semester of sabbatical at ¾ pay after 6 semesters. Sabbatical leaves cannot be “banked” or “deferred without prejudice” unless acceptable justification is provided to Arts & Science Academic Appointments and approved by the Dean and the Provost’s Office.
As with all leaves, the timing of the sabbatical must be approved by the Chair. It is the expectation of the Dean's Office that no more than 1/5th of continuing departmental faculty will be on leave in any given academic year. Specific course coverage plans must be included with each request.
All sabbatical leaves are by application, subject to review and approval by the Provost’s Office. A sabbatical leave, as distinguished from a terminal leave, a leave without compensation, or a leave for reasons of health, is defined as a leave for the purpose of encouraging faculty members (including administrative officers who hold faculty rank) to engage in scholarly research or other activities that will increase their scholarly achievement or their capacity for service to the University. A sabbatical leave will not be granted for the purpose of taking regular academic or other employment of pecuniary advantage elsewhere. Please refer to the Faculty Handbook for more information.
- Requests for sabbatical leave for either or both terms of Academic Year 2024/2025 must be submitted by Wednesday, November 1, 2023. Please visit Arts & Science Academic Appointments for instructions. Leaves should be justified on grounds of enhanced scholarly performance, and are not automatically granted. Chairs should give careful consideration to the impact of leaves on meeting the needs of the instructional program of the department.
- At times, a coincidence of proposed leaves could affect a department adversely. In such circumstances the Chair will have to negotiate a staggered schedule. It may not be possible to replace a faculty member on leave with an adjunct or visitor, so please plan with that caution in mind.
- The faculty member should prepare a specific narrative description of the proposed activity and an assessment of its value, to be included with the application.
- Requests to revise or cancel sabbatical leaves for which approval has been given will not be considered by Arts & Science Academic Appointments after April 2024, except under extraordinary circumstances.
- Some members of the faculty may wish to augment their income while on sabbatical leave by means of research grants. In such cases, University regulations are as follows per the Faculty Handbook:
"Sabbatical Leave and Sponsored Research: All sabbatical leave arrangements approved by the University carry the restriction that the faculty member is not permitted to engage in any form of regular academic or other employment to supplement the sabbatical salary. However, a member of the faculty is entitled to supplement the salary provided by the university during the period of leave with funding provided by an external sponsor for research, in an amount approved by the sponsor, so long as the total compensation is no more than the full base salary and the leave otherwise comports with the terms and conditions of the award. The faculty member must take the initiative to report plans for sabbatical leave to the sponsor and identify the salary supplementation explicitly in the proposal whenever possible, and must make known to the department chairpersons and dean at the time of the request for sabbatical leave that such funding is being, or will be, sought from the research sponsor."
Awards/Fellowships
Arts and Science encourages faculty to apply for external funding in pursuit of their research goals. Many competitive external fellowship opportunities provide salary support that may be less than the faculty member’s base salary. In order to facilitate and support faculty research efforts, Arts and Science will match competitive awards up to $60,000 for a full year’s fellowship and $30,000 for a one-semester fellowship for awards that do not provide full base salary. (Note: match combined with external award cannot exceed base salary.)
Faculty should consult with their department chair before applying for an external fellowship; the chair, in turn, must discuss the application prior to submission with the relevant divisional dean. Thereafter, the usual process involving Arts and Science Academic Appointments must be followed. There should be no expectation on the part of departments and programs that replacement teaching funds will be provided.
It is the general expectation that no more than four semesters of combined sabbatical and non-sabbatical leave will be taken in a seven-year period. In addition, the expected residency interval between leaves is a minimum of four semesters. Because leaves decrease teaching time, department chairs should advise junior faculty about the importance of establishing a strong teaching record in addition to an active research program prior to the tenure review.
Awards carry different stipulations; some must be paid directly to the faculty member, while others may be disbursed via NYU payroll. If an external award does not cover fringe benefits, faculty are strongly encouraged to receive the award as a direct payment from the funding agency. If a faculty member opts to receive payment through NYU payroll rather than directly from the funding agency on an award that does not cover fringe, the cost of fringe expenses will be deducted from the award, effectively reducing the award amount (the current fringe rate is 31%). Please discuss the benefits implications with Arts and Science Academic Appointments.
Leave Without Pay
Personal Leave Without Pay
Personal leave without pay may be granted for one or more semesters at the discretion of the dean for compelling personal reasons per the Faculty Handbook, such as care of a seriously ill child, parent, spouse, or registered same-sex domestic partner. Leave by either parent for the purpose of taking care of a child or related activities, as distinguished from inability to work because of pregnancy or childbirth, is treated as personal leave. To apply for personal leave without pay, please visit Arts & Science Academic Appointments. Please see also Workload Relief.
Replacement of faculty on unpaid leave is not automatic and is subject to overall budget priorities. A leave without pay should not be approved under the assumption that the line will be replaced. Requests are subject to criteria required by NYU policy, and may be approved only on assurance that the work of the department/program will not suffer. Requests to revise or cancel leaves without pay after April 2024 will only be granted under extraordinary circumstances.
Please Note: Faculty may not receive more than 100% of their annual compensation in total. The 9 month academic salary is paid over 12 months (6 installments for the fall semester and 6 for the spring semester).
If you are on leave in the fall, the first 6 pay dates of the year will reflect the terms of your leave as applicable (October 1, November 1, December 1, January 1, February 1, and March 1) and your normal payroll will resume on April 1. If you go on leave in the spring, the last six pay dates of the year will reflect applicable terms of your leave (April 1, May 1, June 1, July 1, August 1, and September 1) and your normal payroll will resume on October 1. Details regarding faculty housing arrangements during leave are available via Arts & Science Academic Appointments. For assistance with benefits, please contact PeopleLink (askpeoplelink@nyu.edu or 212.992.5465).
Goddard Leave
The Goddard Junior Faculty Fellowship, made possible by Paulette Goddard's bequest to New York University, was established in 1993/1994. The Fellowships provide tenure track faculty who have successfully passed their Third-Year Review a semester of leave with full pay in the following year. The timing should be determined in consultation with the department Chair. Goddard leave is intended to provide junior faculty with a concentrated period of time to conduct research and scholarship that contributes to criteria for promotion and tenure at NYU. At the conclusion of the leave, each Goddard Fellow will be required to submit a brief report of their activities to the Dean. Questions regarding eligibility and timing of the Goddard leave should be directed to the Office of Faculty Advancement.
To apply for a Goddard Fellowship, please visit Arts & Science Academic Appointments.
For all sabbatical and leave related questions, please contact Arts & Science Academic Appointments (fas.academic.hr@nyu.edu).
The Dean's Office requests that no more than 1/5th of continuing departmental faculty will be on leave in any given academic year. Specific course coverage plans must be included with all applications.
APPROVAL OF SABBATICAL/LEAVE REQUESTS
All of the above requests require final approval by the Office of the Provost on the recommendation of the Dean of the Faculty.
FINAL REPORTS
Colleagues returning from sabbatical and leave without pay/with partial pay should submit a written report to the Dean of the Faculty with a copy to the Divisional Dean and Chair within a month of their return to campus.