The Board of Regents are considering the approval of the request by the Regent universities for faculty professional development assignments for the 2012 fiscal year.

“Some legislators are questioning if faculty improvement leaves should be happening,” said Warren Madden, vice president of business and finance.

According to the uniform guidelines for Iowa State’s faculty professional development assignments, “The university recognizes that significant opportunities for professional growth and development are required periodically by faculty members and that the Faculty Professional Development Assignment Program is one of the best modes in which to achieve such growth and development.”

The applicants for the program are “encouraged to choose off-campus locations for their assignments” and are to conduct research or scholarship, obtain new or specialized training or participate in an international program.

According to the guidelines, a faculty professional development assignment may be no longer than 12 months.

“Anyone on faculty professional development assignment will be paid up to six months’ salary. The salary of persons on leave for more than six months will be prorated across the total period of the assignment,” according to the guidelines. “No one can receive salary payment through the university’s payroll system, regardless of its source, beyond six months while on assignment. Regardless of the length of the assignment, the university will continue to make its full contribution to the various employee benefit programs in which the individual is enrolled.”

Expected budget replacement costs for faculty who are on leave was $107,747 for Iowa State in 2011, and $125,000 is being requested at the Board of Regents meeting Thursday.

The Regents’ total cost from all three universities was $256,447 in 2011, and a total of $256,447 will be requested.

Madden said he believes this is an opportunity to update faculty on their disciplines and fields, and only 20 to 30 out of 1,500 to 1,600 of Iowa State’s faculty is participating in the program.

He said faculty make up the salary that is earned off-campus when they return.

Jeff Kaufmann, assistant minority leader in the Iowa House, representing House District 79, said in an e-mail, “This has been a topic for years in the legislature. It has received some traction lately given the very difficult budget situation. Every institution and agency will be asked to sacrifice.”

He said he believes this temporary moratorium will “have the least effect on students and tuition as compared to other ideas that have been proposed. I also believe that we need to place a permanent cap on the percent of faculty awarded sabbaticals.”

“The Board of Regents need to listen to the citizens of Iowa and legislators who represent them. The board needs to do a much better job of finding savings within their institutions and know that the legislature will hopefully no longer stand for them making decisions that balance their budget on the backs of students and the tuitions they pay,” Kaufmann said.

Kaufmann said an example of this happened last year when tuition was raised on students at the same time a new communications position was resurrected at the University of Iowa and almost $250,000 was appropriated for a person without a masters degree.

“That the Board of Regents would ‘rubber stamp’ such a decision was utterly unacceptable,” Kaufmann said.