Faculty Release-Time Guidelines
All faculty seeking release from their normal teaching obligation must complete the Faculty Release-Time Form (FRF) prior to any reduction in course load. No release-time will be granted unless, and until, the Faculty Release-Time Form (FRF) is fully approved by the vice president for academic affairs through the regular channels (via chair/director/coordinator and dean). These guidelines do not apply to professional employees.
Released course time will not typically be approved for the following activities: work done as part of normal faculty workload, directing conferences, scholarship, editing journals, leadership in professional organizations, or paid consultantships (unless an outside agency provides funding for released time). Among the activities that could qualify for released course time, depending on the circumstances, are the following: department chair, associate dean, other administrative position (i.e., director of international education), national accreditation self-study chair, Middle States self-study chair, chair of Faculty Senate, ethics institute fellowship, or extraordinary position, i.e., regent.
The individual faculty member is responsible for initiating and completing the FRF at least a semester before the release is requested. (If the release is conditioned upon external funding, submit the FRF concurrently with the submission of the funding request.) The completed FRF is submitted to the department chair/center director/program supervisor for review and approval and then to the dean and vice president for their review and approval. The form must be completed and fully approved prior to the start of any requested release time, and before the master schedule is due in the dean’s office (normally mid-September for following spring semester and mid-February for fall semester master schedules, respectively).