The University wishes to provide eligible faculty members with a period of time in which to adjust to the demands of parenting newly born or adopted children under the age of six. A faculty member who is the primary care-giving parent and whose duties as a faculty member include teaching and service duties shall be granted a work load release from teaching and service duties for one academic semester following each live birth or each adoption of a child under the age of six.
1. This policy applies to tenured and tenure-track faculty whose faculty appointment requires that the faculty member assume teaching or service duties. It does not provide a work load release for a faculty member from research or scholarship duties.
2. The policy is not applicable to faculty who do not have significant research, scholarship or other duties aside from teaching.
3. The policy is not applicable to special faculty.
4. The policy does not apply to faculty members who have been issued a terminal appointment.
5. The request for a work load release of teaching and service duties is to be made, in writing, to the department chair, where the constituent faculty is organized into departments, or to the Dean. The request is forwarded to the Dean for approval. This policy does not preclude the individual negotiation of release time or leave for any faculty member, whether tenured, tenure track or non-tenure track, and under special circumstances not covered by this policy.
6. The teaching and service work load release may be granted for one semester during the academic year following the live birth of a child or adoption of a child under the age of 6. The work load release is ordinarily granted for the academic semester following the faculty memberís return to work. If the faculty member comes back to work during an academic semester, the work load release will be granted for the next complete academic semester. Based on the faculty memberís particular circumstances, the timing of the request in relation to the progress of the current academic semester, and the needs of the School, the chair and/or dean have the discretion to determine, the appropriate semester for which a teaching and service workload release will be granted. A faculty member may not structure his/her teaching load for an academic year so as to use this work release policy alone to eliminate all teaching and service duties for that academic year. This work load release policy is intended to operate independently, however, from the family, medical, maternity or sabbatical leave policies of the university.
7. The work load release shall be granted without a reduction in pay for the academic semester.
8. The work load release is to be granted to the primary care-giving parent. The primary care-giving parent is the parent principally responsible for the childís care and well-being. If both parents are faculty members eligible under this policy for a teaching and service work load release, the teaching and service work load release may be granted to one faculty member for each live birth or adoption.
9. Faculty on teaching and service work load release will be expected to fulfill their other professional responsibilities during the teaching and service work load release period, including research and scholarship activities and those responsibilities for which the faculty member is uniquely qualified such as advising doctoral candidates and students involved in projects under the supervision of faculty members.
10. The period of time during which there is a teaching and service work load release does not automatically affect a faculty memberís pre-tenure period. A faculty member may be granted an extension of the pre-tenure period under the separate provision governing the Pre-tenure Period, I.G.
11. The period of time during which there is a teaching and service work load release does not in itself constitute a leave of absence under the Universityís leave of absence policies. However, for a faculty member who is granted family or medical leave and requests intermittent leave requiring a reduced work schedule, that intermittent leave may run concurrently with the period of time in which there is a teaching and service work load release.
12. The chair and/or dean may request documentation from the faculty member that supports that the faculty member meets the eligibility requirements for a teaching and service work load release.
* approved by the Faculty Senate 12/19/05 and by the Board of Trustees 2/25/06
