B3.4: Academic Leave For Principal Lecturers

Approved by: Faculty Senate, Board of Regents
Effective Date: October 8, 2013
Responsible FS Committee: Operations
Office Responsible for Administration: Office of Faculty Contracts

Policy Rationale

The main purpose of academic leave is to encourage professional growth and increased competence among lecturers by subsidizing significant research, creative work, or some other program of study that is judged to be of equivalent value.

Policy Statement

1. Any Principal Lecturer is eligible to apply for Academic leave, which is the opportunity to apply for a professional development teaching release with pay to pursue other academic and/or professional opportunity activities. A Principal Lecturer is eligible to apply for such releases every six years of full-time service. Lecturers who qualify have the right to apply for academic leave; however, academic leave is not granted automatically upon the expiration of the necessary period of service. Rather, the lecturer shall present, as part of the application, evidence of recent sound teaching or other activities that materially support UNM’s academic mission. Also, this program shall give reasonable promise of accomplishing the major purpose of the leave, cited in the Policy Rationale section above. Academic leave will not be granted to subsidize graduate work or work on advanced degrees.

2. Academic leaves will be approved only with the clear understanding that the lecturer will at the completion of the academic leave return to the UNM for a period of service at least as long as the duration of the leave.

3. Academic leave is counted toward retirement. While a person is on academic leave, UNM will continue to pay its share toward retirement, group insurance, and social security benefits.

4. Lecturers on 12-month contracts may not accrue annual leave while on academic leave.

5. Appeal: If at any stage of the approval process, the applicant believes that his or her proposal has not been considered properly according to the provisions of this Policy, that matters of academic freedom are involved, that improper considerations have entered into a negative decision, or that other demonstrable conditions prevented a fair and impartial evaluation, he or she may appeal to the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure for a review of the matter.

Applicability

This Policy applies to all academic UNM units, including the Health Sciences Center (HSC) and Branch Campuses.

Definitions

Full-time Service: Service time equivalent to that of a faculty member employed on a contract designated as 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE). For example, a faculty member whose contract is designated 0.5 FTE would have to multiply his or her service by a factor of two or reduce the leave time taken by one-half to meet the full-time service requirements listed in this policy.

Who should read this policy

• Board of Regents
• Professors and academic staff
• Academic deans and other executives, department chairs, directors, and managers

Related Documents

Faculty Handbook:

• Section B: Policy on Academic Freedom and Tenure
• C280: Leave Without Pay

Contacts

Direct any questions about this policy to your chair and/or dean or the Office of Faculty Contracts.

Procedures

1. As a general rule, the faculty members of the department concerned will be expected to absorb the teaching load of the individual on leave, and the departmental chairperson (or the dean in non-departmentalized colleges) shall present with each recommendation for academic leave a statement of the planning in this regard. A department may, for example, decide to alternate courses or to cancel certain offerings. Further, it is expected that the department shall prepare its program over a period of years so that essential courses are not be neglected because of the temporary absence of a member of the faculty.

2. To avoid adverse effects on the educational objectives of individual departments, the administration finds it necessary to place a practicable limit on the number of academic leaves granted in any one department for any one semester. Other conditions having been fulfilled, it is general practice that requests for leave be considered on the basis of length of service.

3. Approval of Application: Primary responsibility for determining the merit of a proposed program from the point of view of the validity of the program and the probable value of the program to the faculty member and to UNM lies in the department and should be accomplished by a departmental committee. The departmental chairperson shall forward to the dean the departmental evaluation together with the chair's recommendation and a statement as to how the teaching obligations of the department will be achieved in the event the proposal is approved. The dean with the advice of a college-wide faculty committee shall then evaluate the proposal both on its merits and on its effect on the operation of the college.

4. Upon returning to UNM, every lecturer granted an academic leave shall submit promptly to the Provost/Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Policy C250 ”Academic Leave For Principal Lecturers” Page 3 of 4 or the Chancellor for Health Sciences, with copies to department chairperson and dean, a full report of the research, creative work, publications, or other results of the period of leave. The report submitted shall be placed in the lecturer's personnel file.

5. See item 2 under Policy C280: Leave Without Pay.

6. Those lecturers who receive all or part of their salaries directly from agencies outside of UNM will be granted academic leave with salary guaranteed only to the extent of UNM funding of the previous year; full funding is possible only when funds are available within the UNM budget.

7. Time toward each new academic leave begins immediately after return to full-time service regardless of the semester of return.

History

• October 8, 2013—Approved by the UNM Board of Regents
• February 26, 2013—Approved by the UNM Faculty Senate
• April 28, 2020 - Approved by the UNM Faculty Senate to move to Section B (formerly C250)