At its meeting last month in Newport Beach, Calif., the Hillsdale College Board of Trustees approved 14 sabbaticals or next year, including three yearlong sabbaticals.
The 35-member board — which meets three times a year — also reviewed the budget for next year and received a general report on the college.
Provost David Whalen said three yearlong sabbaticals seemed like a higher number than normal, and Vice President for Administration Rich Péwé said that there are usually only one or two requests for yearlong sabbaticals.
“The number of sabbaticals in a particular year is typically determined by the number of tenure track professors who were hired in any given year,” Péwé said.
In order to have a sabbatical request approved, the professor submits an application to the provost, which is then handed over to the Sabbatical and Summer Leave Committee, made up of faculty members. The professor, in his application, must receive permission from his department chair as well as colleagues, prove he is deserving of a sabbatical, and submit an explanation of his project — including, in the case of a yearlong sabbatical, how he will be funded.
Their recommendations are sent on to the provost and the president, who bring a list before the board of trustees.
“They are typically approved,” Whalen said. “Now, it’s not the case that it is automatic by any stretch, but the standards and expectations are so well known and widely recognized that people generally don’t apply for a sabbatical unless they have a legitimate project that will warrant approval. People are aware of the expectations, and they approach their sabbaticals in good faith.”
A tenured professor can apply for a sabbatical every seventh year. Whalen said that though most professors take advantage of the sabbatical program at the appointed time, sometimes professors are asked to delay or postpone their leave if there are staffing pressures.
“The sabbatical is a professional development tool,” Péwé said. “It is in place to enhance classroom teaching and faculty scholarship.”
Professor of History Brad Birzer, on sabbatical this year, said the leave is for a very specific purpose.
“The sabbatical is meant to be a time of rest for the faculty member. But rest isn’t sleep,” he said. “The person’s sabbatical is meant to use the time either developing new courses or writing and publishing.”
Most sabbatical leaves are for a semester. The college continues to pay the professor for that semester. But on a full-year sabbatical, the professor receives half salary.
“Generally what people will do is — through grants or other means — they will supplement the decrease,” Whalen said.
Birzer said the Earhart Foundation of Ann Arbor provided him with a grant that made up the other half of his salary. He has also worked with the Liberty Fund, the Center for the American Republic, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, The Fund for American Studies, and the McConnell Center this year.
“I applied for a full-year sabbatical because the project on which I’m working couldn’t be completed in a semester,” he said.
Birzer has been working on an intellectual biography of Russell Kirk, 1918-1994, during his yearlong sabbatical. He said the focus of the biography is on Kirk’s writing development, his friendships with people such as T.S. Eliot, Leo Strauss, and Flannery O’Connor, and how he influenced modern American conservatism.
In addition to that, Birzer has done some editing and written several articles, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries.
“I’m currently half-way done with the manuscript — at roughly 65,000 words,” he said. “I hope to have a completed draft by the end of August of this year. I’ve also spent a lot of time playing with my kids.”
