The Junior Faculty Fellowship

The Junior Faculty and Morse Fellowships

Yale provides a full year of paid leave, used to advance research or the publication of a book, to all non-tenured faculty members in their first term of appointment.  Typically, the Junior Faculty Fellowship (Morse Fellowship, in the humanities departments) leave occurs in the third or fourth year of the initial contract period, so that the faculty member can benefit from engagement in the life of the department during the early years of his or her appointment; occasionally, however, the leave may be taken in the second year of appointment.

Non-tenured faculty members are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the department's timeline and procedures for the Morse or Junior Faculty Fellowship application.  These procedures include:

• A meeting with the chair, held by the end of the first year of appointment, to discuss their specific plans for the Morse or Junior Faculty Fellowship leave term.  The chair will use this opportunity to clarify the elements required for the application:  a c.v., a book description or outline of the research program, and teaching evaluations.
• In cases where the faculty member has published a first book already, or has prepared one for submission to publishers, the fellowship application should include a research proposal for a second project.
• Application materials are due in September of the year before the faculty member intends to take the Morse or Junior Faculty Fellowship.  The faculty member may request comment on draft materials from the chair, mentors, and other faculty in advance of submission.
• The chair assigns two tenured faculty members who meet in the fall to review each application.  The reviewers provide suggestions for improvement to the chair, who then meets with the applicant to discuss potential revisions.
• When revisions are complete, the committee reviews the final documents and, when satisfied with the revisions, recommends the faculty member for the leave; to formalize the leave, the chair writes a letter to the cognizant dean expressing support for the application.
• All faculty members approved for leaves must also submit a Form to Request Faculty Leave by December 1 of the year prior to the leave.
• The research proposal of each applicant is made available for reading and discussion by faculty colleagues.  Mentors report on this process at the next senior faculty executive meeting.

Non-tenured faculty members, their faculty mentors, and department chairs also should familiarize themselves with the guidelines and forms for faculty leaves available on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences site and with the procedures for non-tenured faculty leaves 2011.

Additional Information:  Research Leave for Associate Professors | Professional Development for Non-tenured Faculty