Sabbatical leave provides full-time tenured faculty an opportunity for professional growth and is encouraged by the College.
Faculty Contract (See section 707)
- The primary purpose of a Sabbatical Leave option is to offer professional renewal opportunities for tenured faculty such that the quality of the individual's future contribution to learning at Lower Columbia College is enhanced.
- A sabbatical should provide the individual a significant opportunity for intellectual achievement and growth through study, research, writing, creative work, and travel so that teaching and professional effectiveness may be enhanced, scholarly usefulness increased, and the institution's academic and service programs and processes strengthened.
- Sabbatical leaves are not to be understood as deferred compensation.
- Sabbatical leave may be granted, upon application, for study, research, writing, field observations or other suitable purposes.
- Opportunities for additional training, for improving skills and for maintaining currency in the field are understood to be included as a purpose of sabbatical leave.
- General criteria for award will include exceptional service to the college, seniority, whether the sabbatical proposal provides for individual renewal and potential value and benefit to the College, and the ability of the affected college department or division to reallocate work during the proposed sabbatical.
- The current contract between LCCFA and the District details the philosophy, eligibility, application format and process, compensation, and expectations upon completion of sabbatical. There is no substitute for carefully reading all sections in the contract that relate to Sabbatical.
- Any eligible faculty who has an interest in seeking a sabbatical would be well advised to seek out faculty members who have most currently completed a sabbatical to hear how others have prepared for their sabbatical leave.