Professional Improvement Leave (PIL)
Professional Improvement Leave (PIL) provides faculty with an opportunity to pursue additional education, research, or other activities deemed of value to Tri-C's educational mission. PILs are governed by the CCC/AAUP Agreement, Article 11.
ARTICLE 11 – PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT LEAVE
A. Professional Improvement Leaves will be made available to members of the bargaining unit to promote instructional excellence and professional development. Such leaves may be made available by the College’s Board of Trustees each academic year for the purpose of additional education, research, or other such activities deemed of value to the educational mission of the College. At the discretion of the College, any or all of the professional improvement leaves may be designated to be used by individuals to prepare themselves in an additional field of teaching expertise, or for any other appropriate purpose.
B. Members of the bargaining unit who have been contracted by the College as full-time faculty members for a minimum of seven (7) academic years of teaching service are eligible to apply for a professional improvement leave. For the purposes of this policy, “academic years of teaching service” shall mean any nine-month period during which a full-time faculty member is under contract with the College.
C. The number of professional improvement leaves granted by the College each academic year will be limited to five percent (5%) of the total number of full-time faculty members; however, the number of leaves available for each campus will be proportional to the total number of such bargaining unit members eligible for consideration for professional improvement leaves at each campus.
D. The College will provide professional improvement leaves to a maximum of five percent (5%) of the full-time, tenure-track faculty as follows:
- Plan A – 2 semester absence at 50% annual salary.
- Plan B – 1 semester absence at 75% annual salary.
- Plan C – 2 semester absence at 100% annual salary (available to full-time faculty members after 14 years of teaching service with the College provided any such faculty member has not taken a professional improvement leave in the previous 14 years. Plan C shall be limited to eligible faculty up to 50% of the 5% maximum set forth in this article.
Deadlines
Each fall, the Campus President’s Office will send notification of eligibility and application guidelines to faculty, Executive Vice President, Access, Learning and Success (EVP, AL&S), AVP, AL&S, Deans, and faculty leaders. Applications due dates and process timeline will be shared in the notification information.
PIL Application Materials
Visit this link to access instructions and the PIL application.