Faculty Leaves

1. Applicants must have been employed as tenure-track (or tenured) faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) for at least five years.
2. Applicants must have been officially granted tenure by UNC-CH prior to application.
3. Applicants must not have had a prior research and study assignment or other school-level or university-level semester leave for the purposes of research- or creative activity (e.g., a UNC junior faculty development assignment) in the past five years prior to application.
4. Applicants may not have more than two consecutive years of leave from UNC for any reason, no matter the source. A semester leave supported in whole or in part from University sources will not normally be granted more often than every 8th semester.
5. Applicants are expected to return from research and study assignments and complete at least one full year of service upon return.

Pending financial availability or other considerations, the Dean’s office will announce the availability of one competitive post-tenure RSA for the upcoming academic year to be taken either in the Fall or Spring semester, depending on need and availability. Announcements will take place in the early Fall semester of the previous year. Applications will be reviewed by a committee with recommendations given to the Dean and decisions made before the end of that Fall semester.

The following criteria, in order of importance, will be considered in selecting faculty for leaves (based on criteria in the university policy mentioned above):

• Quality of the project to be undertaken and faculty member’s ability to carry it out
• Timeliness of the project and how it fits the faculty member’s career
• Leave time required (normally, leaves are one or two semesters)
• Performance as a faculty member (scholarship/creative activity, teaching and service) since last leave
• Time since last leave
• School and university service
• Needs and resources of the unit, especially continuity of graduate and undergraduate teaching and advising/committee composition
• Seniority
• Evidence of attempts for joint funding

Please consult with the Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs prior to the application deadline to discuss the potential impact of your intended leave on teaching or advising/committee commitments. The Senior Associate Dean will consult with the Associate Deans for Undergraduate and Graduate Studies to address and prepare for the impact of this leave on teaching and advising. Formally apply for this competitive RSA by submitting an application, detailed below, to the Senior Associate Dean by the application deadline listed on the notification of RSA availability sent through the Dean’s office.

1. A completed Research and Study Assignment Approval form.
2. A cover letter indicating the intended semester of leave, a brief summary of the project, and plans to address advising relationships during the absence.

• When considering applications to secure a school-sponsored research and study leave or a school nomination to a competitive university research and study leave, please note that the school expects a faculty member’s advising duties to continue for instances when the leave occurs while their advisee is enrolled in thesis (senor honors or masters) or dissertation credits. For this reason, it is important for there to be an indication of how any students fitting this situation will be considered.

3. A 2-3 page single-spaced description of the project (a project narrative), which should
include in the following order:

• The nature of the project, its purpose, and its significance to the field (if applicable, include research questions, hypotheses, and/or target audience)
• Procedures or methods to be used to complete the project (if applicable, include a plan of analysis)
• A description of how the project is novel or innovative
• A description of how this project advances or is significant to the applicant’s overall research and career development
• The planned output or deliverable(s) from this project that will be complete by the end of the semester leave
• The timeline for completion of the project, justifying the need for a full semester of leave while also explaining why a semester of leave will suffice in completing the project
• Reasons why a release from teaching and service or administrative responsibilities during the leave are necessary to complete the project (e.g., project intensity, need for travel)
• A description of any activities the applicant has engaged in or plans to engage in to seek funding to support the project, identifying any non-University sources of support that might be available during the period of the proposed leave

4. Bibliographic references used in the narrative, if applicable.
5. A one-page single-spaced list of relevant published works or products, reports, presentations, or other output authored or created by the applicant that support this project.

Applications will be reviewed and ranked by a committee consisting of one full professor and one tenured associate professor from the professional track, one full professor and one tenured associate professor from the research track, and the Senior Associate Dean. The committee should have representation from the both the strategic communication and journalism areas to balance expertise in topical areas. Committee members (other than the Senior Associate Dean) must not hold administrative positions within the Hussman School.

Specifically, committee members will review each application and the Senior Associate Dean will provide additional context as needed regarding items that might not be apparent from the application, such as performance, time since last leave, seniority, needs and resources of the unit, and university service. The Senior Associate Dean might contact an applicant for more information at this time to assist the committee members in reviewing the applications. The Senior Associate Dean might also consult with the Associate Deans for Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in the Hussman School to gather additional information.

The committee will discuss and vote on the rank order of applications, with the Senior Associate Dean providing the tie-breaking vote. The Senior Associate Dean will create a report explaining the rationale for each application’s ranking and provide the committee recommendations to the Dean.

The Dean will have the final decision based on the recommendation of the committee.

RSAs are not considered approved until the Research and Study Assignment Approval form has been signed by the Dean and returned to the requesting faculty member. Signed forms will be distributed to the Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Curriculum, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Assistant Dean for Business and Finance, and other appropriate curriculum coordinators.

When approved, the faculty member must also complete the University Faculty Leave Notification form and send it to the Dean’s office for review and approval.

A faculty member cannot receive a stipend for administrative work when on a RSA. The University policy states: “Administrative stipends are removed when a faculty member goes on any type of leave.”

Faculty members are not typically assigned a graduate assistant during the leave.

The faculty member is obligated to return to the university and complete one full year of service after receiving an RSA.

A full report of the work completed in fulfillment of the project outlined in the approved RSA application must be submitted to the Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs within three months following the end of the leave to fulfill university requirements.