Sabbatical Leave Reports

Every sabbatical leave ends with a bit of paperwork: the Sabbatical Report. If the Leave Statement is the plan, this is the bookend where you report how it went. The official policy covering this is APM-740-97, but we'll try to break it down a bit. 

The one hard rule up front: the report is due within 90 calendar days of your return from leave. Policy says it goes "to the Chancellor," which sounds more ceremonial than it is in practice; it lives in MyInfoVault alongside the rest of your leave file. 

Okay! So, what do you need to cover in the Report?

1. Account of Activities

Official Policy: "Account of activities during the leave, including travel itineraries, institutions and locations visited, persons with whom there was extensive consultation or collaboration, and any formal lectures delivered."

In Plain English: Where did you actually go, and what did you actually do? Archives, libraries, host institutions, field sites – all things you can list. Same for anyone you worked with at length, and any formal talks you gave. This is the most concrete section.

2. Progress on the Project

Official Policy: "Statement of progress made on the project as proposed in the application."

In Plain English: How far did you get on the thing you said you'd do? Chapters drafted, articles submitted, data gathered, manuscript revised. A great way to write this bit is just pulling up your original Leave Statement and answering it directly.

3. Changes from the Original Proposal

Official Policy: "Explanation of any significant changes from the initial approved proposal."

In Plain English: Actual research has a way of eluding the specificity UC paperwork loves to see. An archive was closed, a collaborator moved, the sources pointed somewhere more interesting than you expected. You can just report that, and say why. This section exists to be used, as nobody is scoring you against your original proposal like a contract, and a leave that evolved is not a leave that failed. They're not coming to get the leave credits back!

4. Anticipated vs. Actual Results

Official Policy: "Appraisal of the relationship between the results anticipated in the leave project statement and those actually achieved."

In Plain English: Closely related to the above, but pitched at outcomes rather than plans. You predicted certain results; how did reality compare? Candor is totally fine here. 

5. Intellectual Property (if any)

Official Policy: "Summary of any intellectual property issues."

In Plain English: Did anything come up around ownership of what you produced? For most leaves the honest answer is "no," and a single sentence saying so is a perfectly complete response. If you were hosted by another institution, worked under a grant with its own intellectual property terms, or created something patentable, this is where it goes.

6. Future Activity

Official Policy: "Statement of future activity related to the project, including plans for completion of the project and publication of results."

In Plain English: What happens next? Where the work goes from here, when you expect to finish, and where you intend to publish. A short paragraph is plenty.

A word to the wise: Per the same policy section, your report "shall become a part of the supporting materials submitted with any proposal for subsequent promotion or merit increase when the period of review includes the period of sabbatical leave." In other words, this document turns up again in your next merit or promotion file. So if you're writing a candidate's statement around the same time, the two are worth drafting together rather than separately.

Any Formatting Notes?

Not really! The policy's own word is "concise," and you're free to take that at face value. One to two pages is totally normal. There's no form, no template, and no required headings; running through the six items above (to the extent they apply), in order, works perfectly well. 

A small confession about MyInfoVault: MIV doesn't treat Leave Reports as something worth reminding you about. The result is that faculty sometimes discover they owe one years later, usually at the least convenient possible moment. We keep our own calendar on the Blue Cluster end to catch this... but if you've just returned from leave and nothing has arrived from your staff contact, do feel welcome to get ahead of it.

What Do I Do with My Report?

Easy! Send it to Will and he'll submit it in MyInfoVault, confirm once it's filed, and keep a copy in the department archive (so that if the question ever resurfaces, we can answer it without troubling you). If you'd rather file it yourself, it appears on your MIV Open Action page. 

If you have any questions not covered here, you can have a look at the Sabbatical Leave FAQ, or just ask. We'll get it answered, and add it to the page!