VOLUME 13, NO. 1     DEC 1999

WPI pioneers the "light sabbatical"

After years of teaching and research, college professors have earned the right to briefly leave behind their ivy-covered walls to explore and learn elsewhere. Unfortunately, family commitments or responsibilities to graduate students keep many from leaving campus for full- or half-year sabbaticals. At WPI, only 40 percent of the faculty take advantage of this opportunity to find renewal. That number is likely to soon increase thanks to a new opportunity--unique in higher education--that capitalizes on the structure of WPI's academic calendar.

Beginning this fall, eligible faculty members may apply for seven-week, full-salary sabbaticals. "Other schools will have trouble duplicating this because they don't have seven-week terms," says WPI Provost John F. Carney III, who says the new option will be an addition to, not a replacement for, the existing sabbatical offerings of a full year at half salary or a half year at full salary. Like the others, the short sabbaticals will be available to tenured or tenure-track faculty with at least three years of service to WPI.

Carney hopes that many WPI professors will eventually take advantage of the one-term leave. "They will be able to pursue research opportunities at other universities or with students and sponsors at a WPI project center," he explains. "I can also see our faculty getting involved in research partnerships with high-tech companies. These activities will, in turn, open new doors for our undergraduate and graduate students."