Sometimes family commitments make it difficult to spend a year or six months away from home, leaving friends, school and jobs. Moreover, faculty members often oversee graduate students, who cannot complete research projects and degrees in their advisor's long-term absence. That's a shame, Carney noted, since a sabbatical can be deeply enriching for both the professor and the university. Both of these sabbaticals have been life-changing experiences. I returned to my university with renewed enthusiasm and a great number of new ideas.
Sabbaticals do cost an institution financially.
Salaries continue to be paid to the absentee faculty member, while the university must also underwrite sabbatical substitutes. I feel that the University will benefit greatly from these experiences and easily justify the expense. The new option is available during the upcoming academic year to tenured or tenure-track professors of three years' service. The short sabbatical lasts one seven-week term at full salary. After three years, professors can reapply for another short sabbatical, or a traditional sabbatical after six years.