Tips for preparing for leave, while on leave and once you return from leave…

Changes to Sabbatical Leave Plans

Opting out of sabbatical leave once approved
Prior to departing for leave—if your sabbatical leave plans do not come together as anticipated, or your funding didn’t come through and you have decided to decline the sabbatical leave that has been awarded, send a note to the Provost, through your dean, letting us know that your sabbatical plans have been postponed (in which case you may submit an updated application the following year) or cancelled.

Change in plans or funding before going on leave
Many sabbatical proposals are a work “in progress” and things change. If this is the case simply revise your sabbatical leave statement and proposal, route it through the dean/director to the provost for approval.

Something unexpected happens while on leave
Things don’t always go according to plan: cooperative agreements go south, funding doesn’t come through, the nature of the research/project isn’t moving along as quickly as you had hoped, your health is compromised, something unexpected happens to you or a family member, etc. If something like this happens to you, the best thing is to communicate with your dean or director. Depending on where you are at in your leave you may be asked to submit a revised sabbatical plan, or you may simply be asked to explain what happened in your sabbatical report.

Stopping your leave once it has started
Typically we do not allow faculty to stop their leave before the time is up. These will be addressed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation. If you are considering early termination of your leave, route a written request through your dean to the provost.

Use of external funds
Fellowships, grants-in-aid or earned income may be used to assist in accomplishing your sabbatical goals. There are a few things to keep in mind though:

• Supplemental use of external funds may not result in compensation that exceeds your full salary had you not been on leave.
• Be sure that there are funds available for use in the account that you intend to charge while on leave – in other words make sure that there is enough money in it.
• There are some grants that you may not use the funds for sabbatical leave purposes so check with Maggie Griscavage, Director of Grant and Contract Services, 474-6446, fngmg1@uaf.edu well in advance of travel plans to make sure that the grant you would like to use will allow the use of funds for sabbatical leave purposes.

Evaluations while on leave
Annual Activities Reports and scheduled Dean’s Reviews or Comprehensive Post-Tenure Reviews are to be completed prior to going on sabbatical leave. These reporting activities cover the years prior to the sabbatical year. When you return from leave the sabbatical leave report will replace the need to file an annual activity report for the period for which you were on sabbatical, although you would still need to prepare any post-tenure review files as scheduled.

Sabbatical leave reporting
Everyone who participated in a sabbatical leave must submit a sabbatical leave report within three (3) months of returning from leave, summer months excluded. The required form is located at http://www.uaf.edu/provost/sabbatical/index.html and must have the financial information well as the appropriate signatures before it is submitted to the provost for final sign-off. You must submit this completed form as part of your report.

Due dates for the sabbatical leave report:

How does the sabbatical leave pay affect my benefits: health, retirement and pension?
If you are on TRS you get a full year of service credit so the amount you pay in is inflated per pay period because your contribution is based on a full salary. If you are on ORP it is a flat percentage of pay and for the pension you pay 7.65% of what you get paid. Health benefits stay the same and you’re covered for the entire year.

The PFD and sabbatical leave
Approved sabbatical leave by employees of the University of Alaska is an allowable absence for the purposes of qualifying for a Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) under a provision at 15 AAC 23.993(a)(14). This provision states that for purposes of the dividend program, University of Alaska employees are “serving as employees of the state” with active compensation which allows employees to be absent for more than 180 days (AS43.23.008(a)(10)). It is very important for people considering taking sabbatical leave to note that the combined (leave plus personal time) absence from the state cannot exceed the approved leave plus 45 additional days (AS43.23.008(a)(13)). This is calculated on a calendar year. The Office of the Provost will write verification of leave letters for faculty if requested by the PFD Office.

A final note about accountability
The sabbatical leave and reporting process is something that Legislative Audit takes very seriously and watches closely. In 2004 we went through a follow up to the 1993 where sabbatical leave tracking and reporting was an accountability issue…needless to say we did not fare much better in the 2004 audit. It is vitally important that you communicate any changes in plans to the Office of the Provost via your dean or director. It is imperative that all sabbatical leave reports are completed in a timely manner. The Office of the Provost tracks any and all changes to your leave plans as well as when the reports are due. The due date of your report has been listed on your award letter. Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.