Professional Development Leave for Instructional Faculty for 2024-25

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

[Summary: Eligible full-time instructional faculty on multi-year appointments are invited to apply for Professional Development Leave (PDL). The application procedure is outlined below. Applicants should submit a written proposal with a current CV to their department or program by December 1, 2023.] 
 
To: Full-time instructional faculty on multi-year appointments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the MacMillan Center 
Cc: FAS Department Chairs, FAS Chairs’ Assistants and Operations Managers, Members of the LSC and TRAC, FAS Dean’s Office, FAS Steering, OFAS 

Dear colleagues, 

The Steering Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences invites eligible members of the full-time instructional (non-ladder) faculty in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to apply for a one-semester Professional Development Leave (PDL) during the 2024-25 academic year. Policies and procedures governing these leaves are described in Section IV.L.4 of the Faculty Handbook and on the FAS Dean’s Office website. 

Eligibility 

Faculty first become eligible to take a PDL after three years of full-time teaching service in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Applicants must continue to hold a multi-year appointment that extends through the academic year following the proposed leave. Faculty who have already taken a PDL become eligible for another such leave after an additional six years of full-time teaching. 

FAQs 

A series of FAQs that offer helpful guidance with regard to eligibility and leave proposal content is also available on the FAS website. 

Goals 

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. 

Salary and Benefits 

While on a PDL, faculty receive full salary and benefits and are relieved of all teaching and administrative responsibilities. 

Application Process 

  1. November 2023: The instructional faculty member submits their current CV and a leave proposal to their department/program.  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.  
  2. November 2023: The department/program chair’s assistant (or equivalent) (the “staff member”) creates a case in Interfolio using the template Professional Development Leave Request (Instructional Faculty) and the Sabbatical case type and uploads the candidate’s leave proposal and CV.  The staff member shares the Interfolio case with the instructional faculty member so they can complete the Professional Development Leave Request Form within Interfolio. 
  3. November 2023: The department/program chair appoints a departmental committee to evaluate proposals for leaves for instructional faculty. Departments and programs may endorse as many applications as they deem worthy. The staff member adds these committee members onto the relevant step in the Interfolio case and forwards the case to that step for review. 
  4. November/December 2023: The departmental committee reviews the candidate’s materials in Interfolio and assesses the proposal’s strengths, weaknesses, and feasibility. Once the committee has made a determination about whether to endorse (potentially after soliciting revisions from the applicant), the staff member forwards the case to the department/program chair. 
  5. By January 15, 2024: The department/program chair reviews the materials in Interfolio. 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. Spring 2024: Once endorsed by the department or program and forwarded to OFAS, applications from Lectors and Senior Lectors will be reviewed for endorsement by the Language Study Committee (LSC).  
  7. Spring 2024: All endorsed proposals will be forwarded for final review to the Teaching Resource Advisory Committee (TRAC) which will render final decisions in time for 2024-25 course planning.  TRAC will judge applications on the basis of quality and feasibility and on the likelihood that the completed project would enhance the teaching program of the department or program and advance the professional development of the applicant. A limited number of PDLs are available in any given year. 

Report 

All faculty members returning from a PDL will be expected to provide a brief written report to the FAS Dean’s Office describing their accomplishments during the leave, and how the work completed during the leave has affected their teaching program at Yale. 

Please feel free to contact Jason Zentz (jason.zentz@yale.edu), Associate Dean in the FAS, if you have questions. 

Best wishes, 

FAS Dean’s Office