Sabbatical Application Checklist

Faculty and SPS sabbatical applicants, their departments and colleges/divisions are recommended to use this checklist as a guide to make sure each application adheres to current guidelines before it is submitted to the next level for review.

Checklist for Application Cover Sheet

• Current cover sheet from the Provost’s Office website is used for the sabbatical leave application.
• Applicant’s Name is spelled out fully as First name, Middle Initial, Last name, as it appears in payroll and other official university documents.
• Employee ID (not email address or Social Security Number) of the sabbatical applicant is correctly entered in the Employee ID field.
• Classification is checked for SPS or Faculty, and if tenured faculty, "Yes" is checked.
• Anticipated tenure date for faculty applicant under tenure review is correctly entered (usually it is 8/16/20XX for 9-month faculty or 7/1/20XX for 12-month faculty).
• Rank (if faculty) is entered as Assistant, Associate or Professor, and not as other titles.
• No. of Years of Service at NIU should be calculated as of the beginning date of sabbatical leave (For example, if NIU employment as professorial faculty began on 8/16/2010 and the sabbatical leave is expected to begin on 8/16/2019, then the correct number of years of NIU service to enter is 9).
• Sabbatical leave requested Semester(s)/Year is entered as Fall 20XX or Spring 20XX or “Fall 20XX and Spring 20XX” (for full academic year), etc., as appropriate.
• Applicant’s eligibility for sabbatical leave for the requested semester/year was verified (first sabbatical leave after 5 years and subsequent sabbatical leaves after 6 years).
• Pay for requested leave is checked as either Full-pay (4.5 months) or Half-pay (9 months).
• Dates and duration of previous sabbatical leaves and all other leaves with or without pay are entered correctly as Semester/Year or exact dates.
• Brief title of sabbatical is specific and descriptive of the sabbatical project, and not entered as something generic like “To write a book,” “To write paper/manuscripts,” “To prepare a proposal,” “To do research,” etc.
• Brief non-technical statement of the proposed activity and its value does not exceed 3 lines and does not say “See Attached” or generic phrases such as “To get release time,” “To work on research,” “To continue ongoing research,” etc.
• Location of sabbatical including city, state and country are correctly entered.
• Sabbatical activity information is checked or explained under “Other”.
• Applicant’s signature and date are entered to indicate the information on the coversheet is correct and the applicant has read and understood sabbatical requirements.
• All required signatures, dates, approved priority ranking or “not approved” fields have been entered correctly.

Checklist for Leave Proposal

• Proposal is typed in Times New Roman 12-point font with at least 1-inch margin on all four sides of the page.
• Project Description section of the proposal is limited to three single-spaced pages.
• Sabbatical project’s relationship to applicant’s scholarly agenda is clearly explained and applicant’s works during the past 6 years relevant to the proposed project are indicated.
• Benefits of the proposed sabbatical leave to the applicant, applicant’s unit and NIU are listed along with anticipated outcomes.
• Advanced preparation made to secure the resources (travel, facilities, etc.) necessary for completing the sabbatical leave is explained.
• Alternative means arranged to complete the sabbatical project if the necessary resources are not available have been explained.
• List of references (if any) cited in the sabbatical proposal are included
• Written report submitted for the applicant’s most recent sabbatical leave (if any) is attached.
• Applicant’s curriculum vitae is attached with the proposal.
• All sections of the proposal and attachments are included in the order they are mentioned in the sabbatical leave proposal format.