Faculty: Sabbatical Replacement Guidelines

Replacing faculty members who take sabbaticals is new to the School. Past sabbaticals have worked largely through colleague coverage and not through hiring outside replacements. The School now has the resources to hire outside coverage thereby allowing more studio faculty to utilize the substantial benefits of a semester away from teaching responsibilities.

 1.      Faculty members who are considering applying for a sabbatical leave should meet with the Director as soon as possible. Being granted a sabbatical requires a proposal process as well as the full support of the respective area and a vote of support from B&P. There are deadlines for receipt of the proposals at both the College and University levels.

 2.      It is the responsibility of the faculty member requesting a sabbatical to identify appropriate candidates to serve as a replacement if colleague coverage is not possible. In general, B&P believes that ideal outside candidates are recent recipients of the D.M.A degree, including our own students, or others who have experience at academic institutions and are either willing to relocate for the duration of the sabbatical or can commit to being present above and beyond the coverage of lessons.

 3.      It is the responsibility of B&P to determine the best candidate from the options provided by the faculty member.

 4.      The Assistant Director in consultation with the Director will provide sabbatical replacements with an orientation during Welcome Week as is currently provided for other new faculty members and instructional staff. That orientation will cover HR processes, our faculty absence policy, etc.

 5.      It is the responsibility of the area chair—or designee—to provide additional mentoring for a sabbatical replacement during their colleague’s leave that further clarifies curricular responsibilities such as the scheduling of lessons and make-up lessons.

6.      It is the responsibility of the area chair—or designee—to make sure that the Curriculum Specialist has appropriately included the sabbatical replacement as the official instructor of record on all necessary courses.

7.      It is the responsibility of the faculty member on sabbatical to check in with students in the studio to ensure success and that expectations are being met.

In the interest of protecting the integrity of studio instruction, our distinctive mode of instruction within the School, and the relationships of trust that must exist between students and their studio faculty, B&P has requested that the assistant director work with the undergraduate coordinator to develop a means to inform students of studio best practices and their rights. These practices include, but are not limited to, the contracted number of lessons students receive per semester (currently set at 13), the expectation that they have regular weekly meeting times, and the expectation that lessons missed by a faculty member will be made up at a mutually agreeable time.