Professional Development Leaves (PDL) for instructional faculty

Updated September 18, 2024

A limited number of special, competitive, one-semester Professional Development Leaves (PDLs) are made available each year to members of the instructional faculty who present compelling proposals for pedagogically based projects they wish to undertake while on leave from teaching. During the semester of leave they receive full salary and benefits and are relieved of all teaching and administrative responsibilities.  

Each fall, the FAS Dean circulates a memo to chairs, department and program staff, and eligible instructional faculty that includes specific instructions on how to apply for the leave. To be eligible, individuals must have served as full-time instructors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale for at least the preceding three years and hold multiyear appointments that extend through the year following the proposed leave. A faculty member awarded such a leave must return to Yale for at least one year of full-time teaching following the year in which the leave occurs. After completing a PDL, a faculty member must teach full time for six years to be eligible for another such leave. 

Yale values the contributions of instructional faculty to teaching our students and improving our academic departments and programs. Yale believes that PDLs improve the teaching program of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences by enhancing the professional development of its instructional faculty.

PDL Application Process

  1. Early September: Academic unit (department/program) chairs appoint a committee of faculty to evaluate proposals for instructional faculty. 
  2. Early September-November 8, 2024: The faculty member submits their current CV and a leave proposal to their academic unit chair and staff (chair’s assistant or equivalent). Applications must describe the proposed project and how it will advance the applicant’s teaching and professional development and serve the teaching program of the applicant’s department or program.  Proposals must also include a well-developed methodology and, if applicable, research plan, including a calendar for the intended semester of leave.   
  3. Upon receipt of the CV and leave proposal, academic unit staff create a case in Interfolio using the template Professional Development Leave Request (Instructional Faculty) and the Sabbatical case type. Staff add the appointed review committee members to the relevant step of the case and upload the candidate’s leave proposal and CV. Staff share the Interfolio case with the faculty member so they can complete the Professional Development Leave Request Form within Interfolio.  
  4. The review committee reviews the candidate’s materials in Interfolio and assesses the proposal’s strengths, weaknesses, and feasibility, and requests revisions if necessary. Staff must upload any revised proposal to the Interfolio case. Once the committee decides whether to endorse, the staff member forwards the case to the chair. 
  5. If the chair chooses to endorse the proposal, they send a brief statement specifying the feasibility and prospective value of the proposed project to the staff member to upload to Interfolio. The staff member then forwards the case in Interfolio to the Office of Faculty Administrative Services (OFAS) for eligibility review.  
  6. Once endorsed by the academic unit and forwarded to OFAS, applications from Lectors and Senior Lectors will be reviewed for endorsement by the Language Study Committee (LSC).   
  7. All endorsed proposals will be forwarded for final review to the Teaching Resource Advisory Committee (TRAC) which will render final decisions in time for 2025-26 course planning. TRAC will judge applications based on quality and feasibility and on the likelihood that the completed project would enhance the teaching program of the academic unit and advance the professional development of the applicant. A limited number of PDLs are available in any given year.   
  8. After the leave proposal is reviewed by TRAC, a decision notification will be sent via email to the faculty member, academic unit chair, and relevant staff. Approved leaves will be automatically entered into Workday. 

​Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Regarding eligibility

  • I work full-time at Yale, but in addition to my part-time responsibilities as an instructional faculty member, I hold another part-time position as the Associate Director of the Center for Basic Research. Am I eligible to apply for a PDL? 
    • No. Although you are a member of the instructional faculty, your appointment is a joint faculty/M&P appointment, and these leaves are available only to individuals who hold full-time teaching appointments. 
  • I hold a full-time, multiyear appointment as a language lector, but my responsibilities include serving as coordinator of the language program and as a course director in my department. Am I eligible to apply for a PDL? 
    • Yes. Coordination of a language program and course directing are common course-equivalent responsibilities of a full-time language lector. In other words, these activities count as teaching for the purpose of determining PDL eligibility. 
  • I have taught at Yale for five years on a succession of one-year appointments. Beginning this year, I was appointed to a three-year renewable term. Am I eligible to apply for a PDL that would occur next year? 
    • Yes, you meet both criteria: three years of full-time teaching immediately preceding your application and a multiyear appointment that extends a year beyond your proposed leave.

Regarding application content

  • I would like to take a PDL primarily to begin writing a book about quantitative biology. Once the book is completed, I would then like to teach a course based on it. Would this project qualify for a PDL?
    • No. While the project does address teaching, it is primarily focused on research and writing. Teaching must be the primary focus of any PDL project.  
  • I am a composer who teaches courses on the composition of electronic music. Since new and updated versions of the software I use to teach the students in my courses are regularly hitting the market, I would like to take a PDL to familiarize myself with these updates for the benefit of my professional development as a teacher, my students, and other faculty in my department who use or may be thinking about using such software in their courses. Would this activity qualify for a PDL?   
    • Yes, given the pedagogical basis of the project and the fact that it will benefit not only the faculty member and their students but potentially other faculty in the department as well, this activity would qualify. 
  • I would like to develop a new course that demonstrates a new approach to the teaching of comparative politics to undergraduates that requires that I familiarize myself with the scholarship of a new subfield, develop new course content, and immerse myself in the study of new teaching methods in my area. Would this project qualify for a PDL? 
    • Yes, if your department or program fully endorses your plan and agrees that your teaching will benefit, and as long as the committee(s) reviewing the project affirm that the scope and value of your project merits a semester’s leave with full teaching relief.     
  • Can I take a PDL to develop a new course that I would like to teach in Yale Summer Session? 
    • No, we are unable to release FAS faculty from their academic year responsibilities to develop courses for the Yale Summer Session. PDLs involving course development should primarily benefit the academic year curriculum of an FAS department or program (or the MacMillan Center).  
  • I have an excellent idea for a project but have not had time to conduct any preliminary research as to its feasibility, or craft a methodology plan. Will that affect my application? 
    • Yes. An important basis for judging leave proposals is their scope and feasibility, which must be evidenced by a well-developed methodology and/or research plan, including a calendar for the intended semester of leave. 
  • I would like to take a PDL to perform a comprehensive update of a lecture course I have taught for a number of years. The work would entail familiarizing myself with new subject matter and then writing the updated weekly lectures. Would this qualify? 
    • Course development and redesign is a normal, ongoing expectation of an FAS faculty member. In some (rare) cases, a proposed update to a single course may require revamping that is significant enough to constitute a full semester’s labor, but more often a PDL dedicated to curricular redesign would focus on a suite or sequence of courses. When a proposed project’s scope is too small for a PDL but otherwise meets the criteria, TRAC may offer a single course release to enable the applicant to complete the project without impacting future PDL eligibility.