Other Research Leaves

Leave requests are managed by each individual school and are available only to full-time tenure line faculty. Faculty requests for periods of leave will need the approval of the Chair of their department, their Dean and the Provost. For more information, see the Faculty Handbook Section III.C.10. These leaves are processed on a rolling basis. For instructions on how to apply for these leaves in GMS, review the Application Process.

Research Leave

The full range of research leave options, including Sabbatical, Junior Faculty Research Fellowships, Georgetown University Research Leave, and External Fellowship Leave, is outlined here.

In general, up to three semesters of research leave of any kind can be taken in any given four-year period.  Details of this “3-in-4 rule” are available here.  Applications for research leave must be submitted through the GMS portal, which will automatically assess compliance with the 3-in-4 rule and other eligibility criteria.

A Junior Faculty Research Fellowship is guaranteed to all tenure track faculty at the Assistant Professor rank, to provide one semester to build their scholarly record for their rank and tenure review. This leave, which like sabbatical is non-competitive in nature, typically is taken in the third or fourth year on the tenure track.

The Georgetown University Research Leave (GURL) provides one semester of research leave to tenure line faculty at any rank (assistant, associate, or full professor), and is awarded through a competitive process.  Applications should be submitted through GMS by clicking on the Faculty Research Leave icon.

Faculty members who are awarded qualifying external fellowships are, subject to the approval of their chair and dean, automatically eligible to take External Fellowship Leave (EFL) for one or two semesters.

A faculty member who is planning on applying for an external award that is not on the list of qualifying external fellowships, should apply for a GURL, which, in the event that it is granted, can be taken in conjunction with the external award.