55 Professional Leave/Release Time for Advanced Studies

Policy Statement (Board Approval Date:  03/22/11)

MSC provides opportunity for full-time employees to take up to four hours per week release time to pursue education that falls within institutional guidelines (as cited in the Employee Salary Schedule procedure) and is approved by the supervisor and administration.

Procedure:

1. Release Time for Advanced Studies:
   1. The Request for Leave of Absence form should be completed indicating Professional Leave for advanced studies. This form must be completed for each class for which release time is being requested.  When completed, the Request for Leave of Absence must be approved through the appropriate supervisor/administrative chain before such release time may be taken.  This form is available on the MSC Commons/MSC Forms.
   2. Indicate the class you will be attending in the section of the form marked Remarks or Special Conditions. Attach a copy of the course description to this form.
2. Record Keeping of Faculty Academic/Scholarly Continuing Education Units and Advanced Credit Studies:
   1. The Request for Leave of Absence form should be completed indicating Faculty Academic/ Scholarly Continuing Education Units* (ASCEU) for advanced studies. This form must be completed for each class/activity for which release time is being requested.  When completed, the Request for Leave of Absence form must be approved through the appropriate supervisor/administrative chain before such release time is taken.  This form is available on the MSC Commons/MSC Forms.
   2. Indicate the class/activity you will be attending in the section of the form marked Remarks or Special Conditions. Attach a copy of the course description to this form.
   3. Faculty members must provide documentation of completion of approved ASCEUs, advanced discipline-related College credit, or other approved educational activities. This documentation must be provided to the chief academic officer.
   4. The chief academic officer will place records of the documentation in the faculty member’s personnel file and, if applicable, in their tenure file and academic rank application file. *Approved ASCEUs and other appropriate nationally recognized designations may be utilized to record and report educationally related non-credit activities when it is ensured that the standards associated with those designations have been met.  The ASCEU is defined for MSC Faculty as ten contact hours of participation in an organized academic/scholarly related continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instructors or presenters.  It does not include general continuing education activities such as non-teaching and non-discipline-related workshops or meetings on or off campus.  Contact hours used to calculate ASCEUs must include only those hours of actual participations in sessions, not total hours in attendance at the workshops, seminars, professional meetings, etc.  A Request for Leave of Absence form indicating Faculty ASCEU must be completed and approved in advance by the appropriate division chair and the chief academic officer.