Research Active Status for SSRLs

(Adopted by the Faculty: February 11, 2026)
(PPC Approved: March 24, 2026)

According to the Faculty Handbook and the University’s Scheduled Semester Leave Policy, a tenured faculty member must be designated “research active” to be eligible for a Scheduled Semester Research Leave (SSRL).  This document defines the term “research active” as it applies to SSRL eligibility in the School of Computing, Data Sciences, and Physics (CDSP).

Here, “department” refers to a department or program, and “chair” refers to a department chair or program director. “Dean” refers to the Dean of CDSP, and W&M refers to the University.

I. Definition of Research Active 

All departments in CDSP evaluate tenured and tenure-eligible (TTE) faculty performance using a 15-point scale, with either a 6-6-3 or 7-5-3 breakdown between research, teaching and service, respectively.  A TTE faculty member may not be evaluated on a different scale without the approval of the Dean.  For determining SSRL eligibility, a tenured faculty member shall be considered research active if the points allotted for research performance do not fall below 3, averaged over the 3 annual merit evaluation cycles immediately prior to the request for SSRL consideration.  Faculty whose research merit score is evaluated over a different range (for example, due to a flexible merit scoring arrangement) shall be subject to the same standard as the other tenured faculty in their units, that is, a minimum average score of 3, as described above.   If a faculty member was on leave for other reasons during this three-year period (for example, a Family Medical Leave), the Chair shall compute the average using the 3 most recent merit evaluation cycles that exclude those in which the previous leaves occurred.

II. Instructions for Chairs 

Chairs will submit as a single pdf file the required SSRL proposals to the Dean with a cover letter indicating the names of faculty who are scheduled for an SSRL and whether those faculty are research active.  The requirements for SSRL proposals and the timeline for submission may be found in the University’s Scheduled Semester Leave Policy.