Good Morning,

A friendly reminder that Study Leave applications are due to me no later than Friday at 5 p.m.  Detailed information is below.

Regards,
Elizabeth


Elizabeth P. Dean, MTA, CMP
Special Assistant to the Dean
Volgenau School of Engineering
P: 703.993.1500
C: 203.605.2741
E: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>


From: Elizabeth Picard Dean <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 10:47 AM
To: "[log in to unmask] edu'" <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: Art Pyster <[log in to unmask]>, Ariela Sofer <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: AY 21-22 Study Leave


On behalf of Art Pyster:



Good Morning,



The purpose of study leave is to provide temporary leave for the support of advancing scholarly research, teaching, and/or creative activity, including development of innovative teaching approaches and methods.  Applications for study leave will be handled entirely within the Volgenau School of Engineering.  However, we will be following the requirements that were established by the Provost in prior years, and that are described below.

This announcement is NOT aimed at tenure-track faculty.  Study leave for tenure-track faculty is handled by a different process, described in section 3.6.1 of Mason's Faculty Handbook (https://provost.gmu.edu/administration/policy).

Eligibility

  *   Must be a full-time, tenured faculty with 6 or more years of service at George Mason University at the time of application. Applicants must be tenured at the time of application.
  *   Individuals whose rank is prefixed with Affiliate, Adjunct, Research, Visiting, or Term are not eligible.
  *   6 years must elapse between successive study leaves.

     *   Any time spent on leave of absence, leave without pay, or time worked at another agency or institution may count towards the 6 years, but only if authorized by the Associate Dean for Research.
     *   An applicant may apply in year 6 for a study leave in year 7 (with year 1 being the first year back from the completed study leave).

  *   Full-time Administrative Faculty who otherwise meet these criteria are eligible.



Conditions of the Award

A faculty member who receives a study leave must agree to remain a full-time employee of the University for at least one academic year after the conclusion of the leave.

Study Leave Period

Leave may be taken for one semester at full pay or two semesters at half pay. The leave schedule must be approved by the department chair/academic division director and/or dean. Faculty are encouraged to take two semesters leave at half pay, but are urged to consult with Human Resources regarding possible fringe benefit implications. Leave may be taken during the Fall or Spring semester of the academic year following announcement of the award.

Application Process

The deadline for submitting applications is 5pm on Friday, November 6.  (You may find some outdated information on the Provost’s website or elsewhere that mentions other dates as the deadline. Please ignore such information. November 6 is the correct deadline.)

Application packets should be submitted electronically to Elizabeth Dean - [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) with the subject line:



         Study Leave Application: <your name>



The specific requirements for the application are listed below.

Application materials

The following items are mandatory in every application (please combine documents into one PDF file):

  1.  Cover Page: Please use the attached form.
  2.  Curriculum Vitae: The CV should include accomplishments in research, teaching, and service. (No page limit);
  3.  Project Proposal: The proposal should include up to four pages (2,000 words) describing the objectives and products of the study leave. The proposal may include several types of activities such as research, book writing, course and courseware development.
  4.  Study Leave Report (if applicable): Brief report on products and outcomes from previous study leave. (Maximum of 2 pages)
  5.  Chair or Academic Division Director’s Letter of Support: This letter should explain the importance of the contributions of the applicant. It should also provide sufficient information about the applicant’s publication outlets (or other scholarly activity) so that reviewers outside the discipline can judge the relative importance of the publications or activity. (Maximum of 1 page)
  6.  Institution Permission (if applicable): If the proposed study leave is to be spent in residence at another institution (university, government, or industry), a letter agreeing to the arrangement from an appropriate official of that institution should also be submitted. For a two semester leave at half pay, if the faculty member will be appointed to a salaried position while in residence at another institution, the amount of salary is limited to one half of the faculty member’s salary and the appointment must be to a non-tenured temporary position such as Visiting Scholar. For a one semester leave at full pay, no additional salary may be accepted. If it is not possible to obtain such a letter by October 30, please indicate this in your application, and submit such a letter when it becomes available. (Maximum of 1 page)

Review Criteria

Study leaves will be scored based on the quality of the proposal (50% of the score) and a collective record of high quality past performance (50%).  The evaluation criteria will guided by the VSE Promotion & Tenure Guidelines<https://volgenau.gmu.edu/sites/vse/files/news_images/Criteria%20revised%2004-29-14.pdf>.  Faculty must demonstrate that they are active in seeking external funding for their activities.

For research activities, the focus will be on publications, research funding, and mentoring of Ph.D. students.  For teaching-related activities, see Appendix A of the Guidelines (on page 11).  In particular, there must be evidence of teaching and learning impact beyond the classroom (e.g. publications and external funding).

A review committee of faculty will make recommendations to Ariela Sofer and me. We will make the final decisions.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you would like additional information.

Regards.



Dr. Art Pyster

Associate Dean for Research and Professor

Volgenau School of Engineering

George Mason University



Director for Strategic Integration

Fellow and Founders Award Recipient

International Council on Systems Engineering



703-717-8110

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