The mission of the Faculty Development Leave Program is to provide tenured and tenure-track faculty members with opportunities to pursue activities that would enhance both their individual careers and their contributions to the broader mission of Loyola University Chicago.

Faculty Development Leaves may be granted for one of two different purposes:

1. Research/creative activity - This category includes basic research projects resulting in books or articles, creative artistic work (exhibits, works of art, performances, music or poetry compositions, or the like), or any product which materially and significantly enhances one’s field of professional expertise. It can include the generation of research results and artistic endeavors and/or the analysis and presentation of such results or endeavors.
2. Faculty professional development - This category includes leaves that would allow faculty to develop additional expertise related to future career plans at Loyola and/or improving particular programs currently offered at or planned for Loyola.

A paid Faculty Development Leave may be taken as either one semester at full pay or one academic year at half pay.

The Faculty Development Review Committee (FDRC) reviews paid leave applications and makes recommendations to the Provost or the Provost’s designee regarding their funding as resources are available. The FDRC is an elected committee within the University Shared Governance system.

Questions about applications should be directed to the Department Chair or Dean. Please submit materials in Interfolio RPT.

TIMELINE

Please consult with your academic unit regarding your college/school deadlines. Faculty members are typically asked to notify their department chair and/or dean of their intention to apply during the spring semester. Applications are due in the summer, and faculty are notified of outcomes the following fall semester. If selected, the leave takes place during the subsequent academic year.

Faculty members are encouraged to apply for fellowships and personal development grants offered by foundations and federal agencies, irrespective of whether a faculty member may previously have taken a Paid Leave. Faculty who are seeking these grants should apply for a salary subvention in the event that they are awarded the fellowship or personal development grant from the outside agency. It is the policy of Academic Affairs to make every effort to provide subvention sufficient to "make whole" the faculty member's salary.

Please find relevant forms and information on the Office of Faculty Affairs Policies and Procedures website:

https://www.luc.edu/academicaffairs/facultyaffairs/policiesandprocedures/.

Per the Faculty Handbook, a faculty member’s request for an unpaid leave of absence may be submitted at any time. In each case, the faculty member’s departmental chairperson, or academic supervisor, shall make their recommendations on the merits of the request. Those recommendations and the request itself are to be forwarded to the dean for a decision. Decisions regarding unpaid leaves are made on a case-by-case basis.

Please find relevant forms and information on the Office of Faculty Affairs Policies and Procedures website:

https://www.luc.edu/academicaffairs/facultyaffairs/policiesandprocedures/.

Faculty should discuss any leave requests with their Department Chair and/or Dean as early as possible. For maternity and parental leaves, please submit those requests as well as the request to MetLife at least 3 months in advance of the requested leave date.

Please refer to the Maternity Leave and Paid Parental Leave policies:  https://www.luc.edu/hr/policies/paidparentalleave/.

Please find relevant forms and information on the Office of Faculty Affairs Policies and Procedures website:

https://www.luc.edu/academicaffairs/facultyaffairs/policiesandprocedures/.