i. FAS Professors of All Ranks

Forms of Support for FAS Professors of All Ranks

This category includes: assistant professors, associate professors, tenured professors, professors of the practice, and professors in residence.

FAS professors of all ranks are eligible for the University’s MAPFML benefits. In addition, Harvard gives its Schools the discretion to offer supplemental leave benefits, consistent with University policy.

Leave benefits for professors of all ranks are summarized in the table below, followed by a description of each benefit.

Please contact your associate dean for faculty affairs for information on how to request these leaves.

table

     a/ University MAPFML Medical Leave:  This benefit allows professors of all ranks to take up to 26 weeks of medical leave at full pay due to their own medical condition, including recovery from childbirth. Typically, 8 weeks of medical leave are granted for recovery from non-complicated childbirth.

     b/ University MAPFML Bonding Leave:  The University’s MAPFML Bonding Leave benefit provides new parents (by birth, foster placement, or adoption) with up to 12 weeks of paid time off (i.e., up to 4 weeks fully paid and up to 8 weeks partially paid, at MAPFML calculation*) within the first 12 months after the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child.

     c/ FAS Parental Semester of Leave (FAS PSL): If a faculty member chooses to take their University MAPFML Bonding Leave within a single semester, the FAS will supplement the MAPFML Bonding Leave so that the faculty member can take the full semester of leave (approximately 14 weeks) at full pay. This benefit is called the FAS Parental Semester of Leave, or FAS PSL. FAS PSL must be taken within the first 12 months after the child’s birth, adoption, or foster placement. FAS PSL must be fully contained within a single semester. If elected, FAS PSL runs concurrently with University MAPFML Bonding Leave, MPLA, and FMLA to the extent allowable by law.

     d/ FAS Paid Parental Leave (FAS PPL):  In addition, and regardless of whether FAS faculty choose to participate in FAS PSL, all FAS parents in any professorial ranks are eligible for another FAS leave benefit: up to 4 weeks of FAS Paid Parental Leave (FAS PPL). The purpose of FAS PPL is to provide faculty with time to prepare for the birth, adoption, or foster placement and/or to care for and bond with their newly born, adopted, or foster-placed child. As such, faculty are not expected to teach, advise, or do research during this leave. This leave can be used within the following time frame: anytime between a month before the expected date of the child’s birth, adoption, or foster placement and up to 3 months after the child’s birth, adoption, or foster placement. If elected, FAS PPL runs concurrently with University MAPFML, PMLA, and FMLA to the extent allowable by law. If a faculty member elects to take both FAS PPL and FAS PSL, these can occur either within the same semester or else in different semesters, but FAS PSL must always be contained within a semester. To reduce the disruption of having faculty out of the classroom, FAS PPL should ordinarily be taken consecutively, meaning all four weeks at once.

     e/ Other types of MAPFML Family Leave: In addition to the leaves described in a/ through d/ above, MAPFML Family Leave also includes Family Care Leave, Military Exigency Leave, and Military Care Leave. Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of Family Leave in total, across all types of Family Leave, per benefit period; however, eligible employees may take up to 26 weeks of Military Care Leave per benefit period.

  • Family Care Leave: eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of Family Leave (i.e., up to 4 weeks fully paid and up to 8 weeks partially paid, at MAPFML calculation*) to care for a covered family member with a serious health condition.
  • Military Exigency Leave: eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of Family Leave (i.e., up to 4 weeks fully paid and up to 8 weeks partially paid, at MAPFML calculation*) for a qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a family member is on active duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the Armed Forces.
     
  • Military Care Leave: eligible employees may take up to 26 weeks of Family Leave (i.e., up to 4 weeks fully paid and up to 22 weeks partially paid, at MAPFML calculation*) to provide care to a covered family member who is a covered servicemember.

      f/ Co-Teaching:

FAS professors of all ranks who are new or expecting parents may be eligible to co-teach a course during the semester in which their child is born, adopted, or foster-placed or the following semester. The availability of a co-teaching partnership will depend upon: 

  • the date you expect your child to be born, adopted, or foster-placed
  • the availability of a co-teacher
  • departmental and student needs

If a co-teaching partnership is not practicable, you may be asked to provide extra service in lieu of teaching or take paid time off.

Faculty members whose child is born or adopted in June or July may be eligible to co-teach in one of the two semesters that follow their child’s birth or adoption.

Faculty members are encouraged to discuss the availability of a co-teaching arrangement with the appropriate associate dean and department chair as soon as practicable.

  g/ For Tenure-Track Faculty: Childcare Appointment Extension and Postponement of Review Policies

  • Extensions of tenure-track appointments are intended to provide flexibility in the timing of reappointment or promotion reviews for tenure-track faculty members in order to accommodate time spent on childcare commitments. Such extensions and review postponements are available to either parent (or to both, if both are FAS faculty members).
  • Upon the birth, adoption, or foster-placement of a child, a faculty member notifies the appropriate associate dean for the division/SEAS. That faculty member’s current appointment will be automatically extended by one year and the new dates of appointment confirmed in writing to the faculty member, with a copy to the department chair(s). If the faculty member does not wish the appointment to be extended, the faculty member informs the appropriate associate dean in writing.
  • Ordinarily, if an appointment is extended by a year due to the birth, adoption, or foster-placement of a child, any promotion review (whether from assistant to associate professor or from associate to tenured professor) will be automatically postponed by a year as well.
  • Tenure-track faculty members anticipating an associate review or tenure review whose expected birth-, adoption-, or foster-placement- date falls no later than one month after the deadline for them to submit all of their dossier materials to their department (i.e., for academic-year appointments, the dossier-materials deadline is September 1 [or the next business day, if September 1 falls on a weekend or holiday], and for calendar-year appointments, the dossier-materials deadline is March 1 [or the next business day, if March 1 falls on a weekend or holiday] must notify their divisional/SEAS associate dean by that September or March dossier-materials deadline that they wish to have the automatic appointment extension and review postponement that the FAS provides to expecting parents. Upon being notified by the faculty member, the associate dean will confirm the new dates of appointment and schedule for promotion reviews in writing to the faculty member, with a copy to the department chair(s).
  • If a birth, adoption, or foster-placement takes place after a review is already underway, the review is not ordinarily postponed. However, if the reappointment or promotion is ultimately approved, the faculty member’s subsequent tenure-track appointment will automatically be extended by one year for non-birth parents or two years for birth parents if a second year extension is requested under the medical leave policy. If the faculty member does not wish the reappointment to be extended, the faculty member informs the appropriate associate dean in writing.
  • Note:  For new tenure-track faculty whose child is born, adopted, or foster-placed in the six months before the faculty member’s appointment start-date at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the following rules apply:

For faculty with a July 1 appointment start-date:

  • If the baby is born, adopted, or foster-placed anytime between April 1 and June 30, immediately prior to the July 1 start-date, the faculty member’s current appointment will be automatically extended by one year. If the baby is born, adopted, or foster-placed anytime between January 1 and March 30, prior to the July 1 start-date, the faculty member’s current appointment will be automatically extended by six months.
  • In any of the above cases, the faculty member notifies the appropriate associate dean for the division/SEAS of the birth, adoption, or foster-placement, and the new dates of appointment will be confirmed in writing to the faculty member, with a copy to the department chair(s). If the faculty member does not wish the appointment to be extended, the faculty member informs the appropriate associate dean in writing.
  • In addition to any appointment extension, any promotion review (whether from assistant to associate professor or from associate to tenured professor) will be automatically postponed by either a year or six months, corresponding to the length of appointment extension, as governed by the timetable above. The new schedule for promotion reviews will be confirmed in writing to the faculty member, with a copy to the department chair(s). If the faculty member does not wish the review to be postponed, the faculty member informs the appropriate associate dean in writing.

For faculty with a January 1 appointment start date:

  • If the baby is born, adopted, or foster-placed anytime between October 1 to December 31, immediately prior to the January 1 start-date, the faculty member’s current appointment will be automatically extended by one year. If the baby is born, adopted, or foster-placed anytime between July 1 and September 30, prior to the January 1 start-date, the faculty member’s current appointment will be automatically extended by six months.
  • In any of the above cases, the faculty member notifies the appropriate associate dean for the division/SEAS of the birth, adoption, or foster-placement and the new dates of appointment will be confirmed in writing to the faculty member, with a copy to the department chair(s). If the faculty member does not wish the appointment to be extended, the faculty member informs the appropriate associate dean in writing.
  • In addition to any appointment extension, any promotion review (whether from assistant to associate professor or from associate to tenured professor) will be automatically postponed by either a year or six months, corresponding to the length of appointment extension, as governed by the timetable above. The new schedule for promotion reviews will be confirmed in writing to the faculty member, with a copy to the department chair(s). If the faculty member does not wish the review to be postponed, the faculty member informs the appropriate associate dean in writing.

 

  • Appointment Extensions for Tenure-track Faculty who Take Extended Medical Leave

Effective July 1, 2023, tenure-track faculty who take a medical leave of eight weeks or longer (including medical leave associated with childbirth) would be given the option of also taking a one-year extension to their current appointment. If the faculty member opts to take the one-year extension, the faculty member will also be eligible for one semester of teaching relief. The semester of teaching relief must be used during the faculty member’s current appointment (i.e., the appointment they hold during the time of their leave) and before their next promotion review year. The only exception to this policy is if a faculty member takes a medical leave during their associate review year; in that case, they can use the term of teaching relief during their associate professor term and before their tenure review year, assuming the associate review is successful. Faculty may not, ordinarily, be out of the classroom for more than one year at a time. If a faculty member comes up for promotion review early and has not yet made use of this term of teaching relief, the teaching relief will not carry over into their subsequent appointment if successfully promoted or into the last year of their appointment if not promoted. 

By way of example, tenure-track faculty who use this benefit after giving birth are eligible to receive the following, for each birth:

  • The forms of University and FAS leave described in Section 3.H.3.e.i. (“Forms of support for FAS professors of all ranks”) of the FAS Appointment and Promotion Handbook. Namely:
    • University MAPFML Medical Leave (up to 6 months fully paid, and typically 8 weeks fully paid for a non-complicated childbirth)
    • FAS Paid Parental Leave (FAS PPL) (up to 4 weeks fully paid)
    • Either University MAPFML Bonding Leave (up to 4 weeks fully paid, and up to 8 weeks partially paid; this Bonding Leave runs concurrently with FAS PPL, if FAS PPL is elected), or an FAS Parental Semester of Leave (FAS PSL) (one semester off, fully paid)
  • The automatic childcare appointment extension given to faculty parents, as described in Section 3.H.3.e.i.g (“For Tenure-Track Faculty: Childcare Appointment Extension and Postponement of Review Policies”) of the FAS Appointment and Promotion Handbook.
  • An optional additional appointment extension associated with medical leave.
  • An optional semester of course relief. Please work with your divisional/SEAS associate dean and department/area chair on the timing of this leave. Faculty may not, ordinarily, be out of the classroom for more than one year at a time.

In total, this amounts to two one-year appointment extensions, a term of course relief, and medical and other forms of leave, for each birth.