Assistant Professor Leave

Department of English
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri

The object of the “Assistant Professor Leave” is to ensure that every tenure-track faculty member who so desires may take at least one semester of paid research leave during the five-year probationary period, provided that the applicant (1) has formulated a research proposal that is worthy of support and (2) has made a legitimate effort to secure support from sources outside the department. The following procedures for administering such leaves were approved on 16 April 2002.

1.  The applicant shall apply for funding of the leave to the English Department Chair, the UM Research Board, and an outside granting agency. The applicant must write directly to the Chair of the English Department requesting the Assistant Professor Leave at least one month before the other grant applications are submitted* and indicate how the Assistant Professor Leave would directly benefit her/his progress toward tenure and promotion. The request should be accompanied by a draft of the application for outside funding. [*Normally, the deadline for submitting materials to the Chair will be 1 September in the applicant’s second year.]

2.  The Chair and the members of the assistant professor’s mentoring committee will read the initial outside application to evaluate its scholarly merit and to suggest revisions, if any are needed. Their comments will be communicated to the assistant professor in time to help him/her revise the application that will be submitted to the external agency.

3.  The English Department Assistant Professor Leave shall be granted to an assistant professor ONLY when other grant applications are not successful and ONLY if the Chair and a majority of the Personnel Committee approve the project for which support has been sought.

4.  Assistant Professors who accept the English Department Assistant Professor Leave shall provide for the Chair, in writing, an agreement to teach a full load of courses during the two semesters subsequent to the departmentally funded Assistant Professor Leave.

5.  To ensure that all courses are properly staffed, the Chair of the English Department reserves the right to determine the semester during which the applicant can take the Assistant Professor Leave. In rare circumstances, curricular needs may even necessitate the Chair suggesting the leave be taken during the fourth year, rather than the third.

6.  No departmentally funded Assistant Professor Leave may be taken prior to the third year. The maximum amount of research leave allowed during any five-year period, including the probationary period, is four semesters: this includes leaves that are funded by the Research Council, the Research Board, and most outside agencies (since most outside funding entails some supplementary funding from the department), but not unpaid leave. However, assistant professors who intend to take more than one full year of leave (two semesters) during the probationary period should consult with the Chair and the members of their mentoring committees regarding the impact this decision is likely to have on their prospects for promotion and tenure.