Established December 2018
Faculty Outside Work Leave Policy
The first obligation of faculty members is the preparation for and carrying out of official University duties. Full-time faculty are expected to devote full-time effort and part-time faculty are expected to devote a corresponding part-time effort to their institutional responsibilities. All full-time UW faculty are expected to be in residence on campus during the academic year, as outlined in the “Instructional Responsibilities Policy”: https://admin.artsci.washington.edu/instructional-responsibilities-policy
The exception to this is when faculty are granted professional leave with pay, commonly known as sabbatical leave. The purpose of such leave is to increase the scholarship and professional development of members of the faculty and thereby enhance their capacity for service to the University of Washington. Leave of this type from academic duties is a privilege granted normally to those of professorial rank to afford them the opportunity for study, investigation, and research. More information on requesting quarter- and year-long professional leaves can be found here: https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/policies/leaves/paid-professional-leave/
The College of Arts and Sciences recognizes the arts as an essential research area for the University of Washington, believing all students benefit when faculty have continued vital engagement in research. As with all tenure track faculty, the College expects arts faculty to have careers with sustained research productivity and at a consistently high level, in keeping with our Carnegie “R1” institutional profile of “highest research activity.” Within the parameters established by university policies, the College wishes to ensure its arts faculty can continue to do outside creative work to maintain currency and research excellence.
In light of the site- and time-specific nature of performance-related creative research, School of Drama faculty may need to request leave away from campus to conduct professional and research activities. Broadly speaking, there are two main ways to request such leaves: one is through an Instructional Responsibilities Waiver, by which a faculty member may request to have no classroom teaching assignment in a particular quarter and to have their classroom load distributed across the remainder of the year. More information on this policy can be found here: https://admin.artsci.washington.edu/instructional-responsibilities-policy
The second option for accommodating leaves for creative research is to request time away during a teaching quarter. The School of Drama, in accordance with College policy (https://admin.artsci.washington.edu/chair-responsibilities-instruction-and-administration), requires that any faculty members seeking short-term professional and research leaves that would require an absence of between four and eight successive university instructional days (this excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) obtain permission from the executive director. The faculty member who wishes to request such an absence should first create a plan for instructional coverage with their area head. Once the plan is formulated, the faculty member must then request approval from the executive director by completing and submitting a “Request Form for Short-Term Professional and Research Leave” (attachment A) at least two weeks prior to the start of the requested leave.
According to the same College policy, faculty requests for leaves in excess of eight successive University instructional days (again, this excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) must be presented by department chairs to the divisional dean who coordinates review by the College. As with short-term leaves, a School of Drama faculty member requesting longer-term professional and research leave must first create a plan for instructional coverage with their area head. Once the plan is formulated, the faculty member must submit the request to the executive director by completing a “Request Form for Longer-Term Professional and Research Leave” (attachment B) at least one month prior to the start of the planned leave. In addition to including a plan for instructional coverage, the request must include an explanation of how the faculty member’s service obligations will be met while they are away and a brief statement of the importance of the leave activities to their research, tenure and promotion considerations, and/or ongoing performance and merit reviews.
Requests will then be forwarded to College for final review. Time- sensitive requests should be noted as such so that the divisional dean and the dean of the College can work to provide an expeditious response. Requests will primarily be evaluated by assessing the impact of the faculty member’s leave on student education and the instructional integrity of the School’s curriculum. They will also be evaluated on the basis of the activities’ relevance to the faculty member’s research, tenure and promotion considerations, and/or ongoing performance and merit reviews.
As regards the maximum length of longer-term leaves with pay, the College of Arts and Sciences follows section 2B of Executive Order No. 57 on “Outside Professional Work Policy” (http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/PO/EO57.html; also, see below) that stipulates: “Subject to approval in advance, full-time members of the faculty, librarians, and academic personnel may engage in outside consulting work for remuneration to the maximum extent of 13 calendar days each academic quarter in which the individual is employed (averaging no more than one day per seven-day week). The authority to engage in outside consulting for remuneration is permissive [i.e. by permission not entitlement]. Requests to engage in outside consulting are reviewed on a case-by-case basis pursuant to Section 3 of this policy [i.e. of E.O. 57]. The 13 calendar days per academic quarter limitation may, with prior approval, be averaged across quarters of an academic year, provided, however, that no outside consulting work will be approved that impairs the employee's ability to carry out regularly scheduled teaching or other work assignments or to complete the terms of grants and contracts.”
When plans for instructional coverage include swapping teaching responsibilities with another UW faculty member, the area head, in consultation with the executive director, will work to ensure that the terms of the swap are transparent and equitable. Best efforts will be made to replace faculty of one rank with faculty of an equivalent or higher rank to avoid any sense of obligation by junior faculty members. When it is necessary to make replacements across rank, best efforts will be made to find similar leave time for the swapping faculty member.
When plans for instructional coverage entail hiring outside faculty as substitute teachers, the School of Drama must assume full responsibility for outside hiring. In other words, individual faculty must not independently engage non-UW faculty members as substitute teachers. When a non-UW substitute is needed, the faculty member requesting leave may be required to take a partial leave with reduced pay at a rate commensurate with what is necessary to compensate the substitute faculty at a rate of $900 per credit per quarter. The calculation for the salary costs will be based on how much it will cost to hire somebody and not on the faculty member's salary, much as is done with RRF Scholar awards. The calculation will be arrived at as in the following example.
Cost to cover a 5-credit class for a quarter: $4,500
Weekly cost to cover this class: $4,500 / 10 weeks = $450
Amount of time to be covered: Two weeks
Total cost for outside hire: $450 x 2 = $900
The faculty member's salary will then be reduced by the correct percentage to reflect the total cost for an outside hire.
The UW's Executive Order No. 57 requires faculty members, librarians, and all other academic personnel to obtain University approval before engaging in any activities for which they receive compensation directly from an outside or non-UW source [i.e., the paycheck does not come from a UW account.] Note that this does not include honoraria for certain academic or scholarly work for nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and governmental bodies. A full description of what constitutes outside professional work for compensation can be found here: http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/PO/EO57.html
Because most of the outside professional and research work done by School of Drama faculty members is for nonprofit and educational institutions, rarely will they need to complete the “Request for Approval for Professional Outside Work for Compensation” (Form 1460) related to Executive Order No. 57. However, if outside work is done for a for-profit entity, then Form 1460 must be completed: https://www.washington.edu/research/compliance/outside-professional-work-for-compensation-form-1460/; Purely voluntary work – for either a nonprofit or for-profit entity – for which no financial payment, property rights, or other tangible benefit of any sort will be received does not require approval, so long as the work does not interfere with the faculty member’s core UW work responsibilities.
Administrative Policy Memo No. 15, first established December 2018
Faculty Approval December 2018