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V.
Professional Development
Regarding
sabbatical leaves specifically, 60% of associate and full professors
have taken at least one sabbatical. By rank, 45% of associate professors
compared to 71% of professors have done so. Examining the responses
of these two ranks by school, Liberal Arts, Science, and Management
faculty are the most likely to have taken at least one sabbatical (88%,
87%, and 79% respectively have done so), while faculty in Veterinary
Medicine (32%), Technology (22%), and Health Sciences (18%) are the
least likely to have done so.
Male
associate and full professors are less likely than females at these
ranks to have taken at least one sabbatical (59% vs. 66% have done so).
There are virtually no differences by race among associate and full
professors in terms of number of sabbaticals taken.
An
additional question gave faculty the opportunity to explain why they
had not taken a sabbatical leave. In addition to the issue of not being
eligible, they mentioned seven primary reasons, which are listed below
beginning with the most commonly cited reason.
“Family
responsibilities and spousal employment constraints.”
“Spouse
does not want to leave her job.”
- Fear
of losing ground in their research
“I
was worried that my group might fall apart or I would lose equipment
or space.”
“I
would like to have taken a longer sabbatical, but fear that this would
considerably disrupt my research program.”
- Time
constraints
“Too
busy to even plan it or apply for it. No time to look up the regulations
and procedures to apply for it. No time to link up with the intended
site.”
“There
has really been no time…”
- No
one to teach their classes
“There
is no one qualified to teach my classes.”
“My
Sabbaticals not encouraged in their unit."
“I
have felt that I would not be encouraged to do so by Unit and School
administration.”
“Dean's
level says taking a sabbatical to write a book is a no no.”
“I
did not feel my request for sabbatical would receive support from
my department head.”
- Mentoring
and advising responsibilities
“I
have 8 grad students and feel that I would be neglecting them if I left
on sabbatical.”
“It
is difficult to leave 15 graduate students at Purdue.”
- Financial
constraints
“The
financial support for a 9 month to 1 year sabbatical is not sufficient.”
“It
is subtly discouraged since we have to find funding for 1/2 our salary.”
Differences
by School
The
most common reasons for faculty members from Health Sciences and Technology
not to take a sabbatical were the lack of individuals in their units who
could teach their classes and the lack of encouragement to do so from
their units. Science and Agriculture faculty most often mentioned family
reasons and fear of losing ground in their research as the major factors,
while faculty in Engineering most often mentioned family reasons and the
needs of their current graduate students. Finally, faculty in Veterinary
Medicine most commonly said that they were too busy to take a sabbatical
leave. Too few respondents from Education, CFS, Liberal Arts, the Libraries,
and Management answered this question to comment on their responses.
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