Scope

All Bloomington faculty and librarians who request a leave of absence without pay to allow acceptance of a prestigious fellowship or research-related award.

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Policy Statement

Research Leave Supplements (RLS) are available to Bloomington faculty and librarians who receive prestigious, nationally competitive fellowships or research related awards. Supplements are meant to lessen the financial sacrifice for faculty and librarians whose awards provide less than their regular academic salaries.

Primary Deadline: June 1
Late Deadline for Spring: November 1

FULL RLS FUNDING FOR THE FOLLOWING AWARDS:
Group 1a: Guggenheim

PARTIAL RLS FUNDING FOR THE FOLLOWING AWARDS:
Group 1b: Fulbright Research, NEH, NEA, and resident fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto), the National Humanities Center (Research Triangle) and the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton)

Group 2: ACLS, Humboldt, Mellon, Rockefeller, Rome Prize, Sloan, Spencer

Group 3: Fellowships comparable in prestige to those in Group 2

Applicants for the above awards must inform the department chair (if applicable), school dean and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research prior to submitting an application for a fellowship.

Awards Not Covered by RLS (Representative)
Fulbright Teaching Grants, grant-supported salaries, ordinary leaves-without-pay, research associateships, visiting positions at other institutions.

The Research Leave Supplement application should include a recommendation from the department chairperson (if applicable) and the school dean. Applications should include a copy of the award letter from the funding agency that indicates the amount and duration of the fellowship. If the fellowship is not on the list above, the application should include documentation from the chair or other faculty member familiar with the fellowship that demonstrates the prestige of the fellowship. A form for this purpose is available from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

The program will fund all eligible applications for supplements to fellowships in Groups 1a and 1b, although only Guggenheims (Group 1a) will be automatically topped up to 100% of the applicant’s salary (see below). Applications for supplements to fellowships in Groups 2 and 3 will be approved in that order as funding permits. If the available funds do not permit support of all applicants, decisions about applications in Groups 2 and 3 will be made by a faculty review committee. The committee will be chaired by one of the Associate Vice Provosts for Research and will have five other members: three from the College of Arts and Sciences (one each from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities) and two from other appropriate schools.

Recipients of Research Leave Supplements are eligible to receive up to 60 percent of their base salary during the period of the Leave, with the actual amount determined by the financial sacrifice. The applicant must disclose all salaries, fellowship monies, fringe benefits, per diem, etc., available to him/her during the proposed leave. The financial sacrifice is calculated on annual base salary, less the amount of the fellowship monies and other income. Funds specified explicitly for research or travel expenses will be excluded from this calculation. If the sacrifice amount is less than 60 percent of the base salary, the Supplement award will be the sacrifice amount; otherwise it will be 60 percent of the base salary. The 60 percent of base salary will be paid as follows: the Office of the Bloomington Provost will provide 10 percent of the supplement, with the dean of the applicant’s school and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research each providing 25 percent of the supplement. The exception to this policy will be for Guggenheim recipients whose Research Leave Supplement will be funded up to 60 percent of base salary from the three offices as described above and “topped up” to 100 percent by the recipient’s school.

The University will continue to pay its share of the recipient’s health insurance during the research leave, and will continue life insurance coverage for three months. Recipients then have the option of continuing life insurance coverage at the current rate. Arrangements can also be made by recipients to pay retirement contributions from the Supplement if they wish.

Research Leave Supplements are subject to the following restrictions:

1. Recipients must agree to reimburse Indiana University in the amount of the Research Leave Supplement should they fail to return to Indiana University for at least one academic year following the research leave.
2. The Research Leave Supplement Program may be combined with a sabbatical leave, so long as total support from all sources does not exceed 100 percent of annual base salary.
3. Research Leave Supplements will not be awarded to individuals in two consecutive years. Total Research Leave Supplements are also restricted to no more than three awards in five years, and no more than four awards in ten years. An exception will be made for Guggenheim fellowships; they will not be counted toward these limitations.

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History

Approved: BFC 04/07/81; Revised BFC 06/97; 06/02; 03/11.

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