After fewer faculty leaves were granted last year, numbers are up again this year. The editorial board of The Miami Student believes faculty development is key to the future of Miami University. The two types of leaves – assigned research appointments (ARAs) and faculty improvement leaves (FILs) – are each important elements of faculty learning. Faculty are released from teaching duties and receive full salaries and benefits. This board believes that faculty research directly benefits the undergraduate experience.
Teaching classes and performing other departmental administrative duties is extremely taxing on time, making significant progress on research projects difficult. Faculty is also at risk of falling out of touch with the most recent developments in their disciplines.
Certain groups, such as business faculty, have seen an overall decrease in leaves while other departments have seen increases. This board believes that all faculty should have the chance to take a semester leave on a relatively regular basis. Ideally, the knowledge and expertise faculty gain while on leave will more than offset the loss in teaching time. While it is important to keep class sizes low, it is also important to remember that quantity cannot make up for content.
Faculty conducting research also need time for travel and collaboration with academics and research teams at other universities. Weekends and breaks are simply insufficient for in depth field research.
Furthermore, successful research makes Miami look good. Although Miami's focus is the undergraduate experience – we are not a major research university – research is still important for the recruitment of both faculty and students.
While absent faculty are a short-term loss to students and departments, the long-term benefits of faculty development are undeniably worth the cost in time and money to the university.
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