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  4. Scholarly Leave of Absence

Scholarly Leave of Absence

  Policy | Application

Policy 
Tenure-track faculty

Unless specified otherwise in the hiring contract, conditional on the renewal of their initial contract, tenure-track faculty are eligible for a full year of leave with full salary and benefits to occur after six semesters in residence (i.e., in the fourth year of their initial four-year contract). 

Tenured faculty

Tenured faculty have the following options for obtaining scholarly leaves:

  • Regularly scheduled leaves: Tenured faculty are eligible to apply for one semester of paid leave or a full year of leave at half-pay after 8 semesters of teaching, research, and service from the conclusion of their last leave.
  • Off-cycle requests:   A tenured faculty member may request leave prior to the next regularly scheduled leave provided that the following conditions are satisfied:
    • The faculty member must apply for an external fellowship or award (“award”).
    • The award must be especially prestigious, significantly enhancing the scholarly visibility of the faculty member, the department, and the university, and the request should offer a clear rationale for accelerated leave.
    • The request for an off-cycle leave should be exceptional, likely occurring only a few times during a faculty member’s career at Vanderbilt.
    • The leave must be discussed and approved by the chair or director and Dean’s Office prior to applying for the award.
    • The leave is contingent upon winning the award.
    • The award must support a significant fraction of the faculty member’s salary (e.g., 50% of salary for the term of the leave, whether a semester or a year):
      • The college will typically top off the external funding to provide full salary and benefits for the term of the leave, whether a semester or a full year.
      • Federally funded grants are not eligible for topping up.
    • An off-cycle leave resets the faculty member’s leave calendar such that they will be eligible for leave again after 8 semesters of research, teaching, and service following the conclusion of the off-cycle leave.
Application

To apply, please complete this form. The deadline to apply is December 12, 2025.