Practice Faculty Also Need Sabbatical Leaves

The academic sabbatical in higher education has been used as a tool for personal and professional growth. Although sabbaticals for tenured faculty have been widely accepted and utilized, their use for nontenure, contract, and practice-based faculty are not well-understood. To explore the reason behind this, the authors undertook focus sessions among practice faculty who had taken a sabbatical leave or were considering a sabbatical leave. Two themes emerged from the conversations with participants: (theme 1) practice faculty assume they are not eligible for sabbatical leaves and (theme 2) practice faculty assume sabbaticals must result in/lead to significant grant funding. Based on these results, sabbatical leaves appear to be under offered to and misunderstood by practice pharmacy faculty. In a time where pharmacy programs are struggling to recruit and retain practice faculty required to prepare the next generation of pharmacists, sabbaticals for practice faculty may be an effective strategy to support practice faculty and incorporate innovation into educational experiences. We hope that this project stimulates a broader conversation within pharmacy academia about the importance of investment in our critically important practice faculty.