2,684: Faculty Entrepreneurial Leave
Revised: October 2013
Entrepreneurial leave shall be without pay for periods up to and including 12 months. It may be granted by the president to tenured academic faculty or administrative faculty who have been employed by the System for one year or more.
Justification for entrepreneurial leave shall be provided in the application and shall be based on the faculty member's entrepreneurial activity that 1) advances research and 2) supports the state's economic development plan, technology transfer, commercialization, the Knowledge Fund established pursuant to NRS 231.1592; or similar activities deemed appropriate by the President.
Applications for entrepreneurial leave shall be made to the president or designee through the department chair and dean of the college or immediate supervisor and appropriate vice president. The dean or supervisor and appropriate vice president will consider the needs of the department in the recommendation to grant the leave. A requirement of the approval process is that the leave can be arranged without seriously impairing the work of the department. An application for part-time entrepreneurial leave must specify the FTE portion of the leave requested and the role statement that would cover the faculty member's responsibilities to the university for the FTE portion employed.
Applications for entrepreneurial leave must identify ongoing effort commitments related to externally-funded research and must demonstrate how such commitments will be met should the leave be granted.
Applications for entrepreneurial leave must be submitted while the faculty member is in a paid status.
The University will continue to pay its portion of the health insurance premiums during the entrepreneurial leave.
When entrepreneurial leave is approved, the conditions shall be specified in writing and a copy of the authorization shall be given to the faculty member and forwarded to the Human Resources Office with a Payroll Action Form and a contract stating the conditions of the leave.
Requests to revise the FTE portion of the leave or to extend the period of leave must be made in writing to the president or designee through the department chair and dean of the college or immediate supervisor and appropriate vice president. Such requests may be accommodated if they do not seriously impair the work of the department.
The faculty member shall return to the University immediately following the entrepreneurial leave for a period at least the same duration as the entrepreneurial leave.
Any period of time spent on entrepreneurial leave is not considered a part of the six-year service requirement for sabbatical leave. Applications for a sabbatical leave must be submitted when a faculty member is in a paid status.
Faculty on a 12-month "A" contract appointment who take entrepreneurial leave without pay shall be entitled to use accumulated annual leave concurrently, with prior approval of the supervisor or other appropriate administrative officer, before going into unpaid status; however, the faculty member shall not be paid a lump sum for any unused accumulated annual leave before going into unpaid status. Annual and/or sick leave cannot be earned while on entrepreneurial leave. Entrepreneurial leave may only be taken in accordance with the policies in the Board of Regents (BOR) Handbook Title 4, Chapter 3. If an academic or administrative faculty member is absent from work without authorized leave, as defined in the BOR Handbook Title 4, Chapter 3, Section 10, the absence must be charged as unauthorized leave without pay.