Sabbaticals for Professional Improvement. The President or designee may grant paid sabbaticals to tenured faculty who have completed five years of service at SVC. For purposes of this policy, professional improvement shall mean research or study in a field that will complement the faculty member’s assigned duties, retraining, extensive curriculum material development, creative work, enhancement of professional skills and knowledge, including earning a higher degree, or other activities related to improvement of the individual’s performance as a faculty member. Sabbatical leave recipients ordinarily shall not engage in full-time employment during the period of sabbatical leave. Should recipients propose to do so, they must justify such employment in terms of the general spirit of the sabbatical leave program. Sabbaticals may be granted for a period of one, two, or three quarters within the same academic year. Within a seven-year period, a faculty member may be on sabbatical for no more than a total of three quarters. The total number of sabbaticals at any one period of time shall not exceed four percent (4%) of the total full-time equivalent faculty at SVC. The following criteria in no particular order will be used to determine successful sabbatical applications: retraining as needed for job retention, first time recipients, years of faculty service, alignment with the institutional strategic priorities, and merit of proposal. Any sabbatical shall be contingent upon a signed contractual agreement between the President or designee and the recipient, providing that the recipient shall return to SVC following completion of the sabbatical and serve in a professional status for a period commensurate with the amount of leave so granted. Failure to comply with the provisions of such signed agreement shall constitute an obligation of the recipient to repay to SVC any remuneration received during the leave. Upon return to service after sabbaticals, faculty members shall be reinstated to their original position, or one of like status, and shall be entitled to salary and other benefits accrued by law commensurate with said position as if they had been in continuous service in the College District. Faculty returning from sabbatical will report on their sabbatical experience to their appropriate administrator in accordance with the sabbatical application criteria. Sabbaticals for professional improvement shall be governed by the following procedures:
