ISU professors aren’t absent from class as much as students may think.

Doug Anderson, Iowa State’s payroll manager, said that in the 2007 fiscal year 16,000 hours of sick leave were taken, but when those hours are broken down among Iowa State’s 13,929 employees, it’s not out of the ordinary.

“You’re looking at maybe 10 on average, the people gone a day over the average of the year,” Anderson said.

Any full-time faculty member at Iowa State gets exactly 12 hours of sick leave each month. Anderson also said faculty members are allowed 40 hours of emergency use per year.

“Emergency use can be used for care and necessary attention of ill or sick family members,” Anderson said.

He also said faculty members teaching only during the nine months while school is in session don’t receive vacation time.

“Basically the breaks in the summer are their time off, and they get no vacation,” Anderson said.

Some faculty members take time off from teaching by taking advantage of the Faculty Professional Development Assignment.

The FPDA allows professors to conduct research or scholarship, obtain new or specialized training or participate in an international program.

Brenda Behling, program manager for the executive vice president and provost’s office, said about 50 to 60 applications for the program are received each year. She also said that 48 were approved for 2008-2009, but the five-year average has been 43.

While working under FPDA, faculty are paid up to six months’ salary. Behling said this can create savings for the university if faculty members are on a 12-month leave, but the saved money often goes to pay for the faculty member’s replacement.

“The additional cost for the university is for the teaching replacement, a temporary lecturer or graduate teaching assistant hired to teach a course for the person approved for FPDA,” Behling said. “That teaching replacement cost is borne by the college or department and often the savings for those on year-long assignment helps to cover that cost.”

Behling also said that all members of the faculty are strongly encouraged to participate in the program because it greatly benefits both the individual and the institution.

“Unfortunately, the number of approved FPDAs is less than 4 percent of our total faculty eligible for the program,” Behling said. “We wish this were a higher number, but there may be a number of reasons for it – including budget concerns and ability to replace the faculty member.”

Faculty can also take part in the Big 12 Faculty Fellowship. This allows faculty members to exchange research and ideas with other Big 12 faculty.

Julie Tarbox, administrative specialist for the executive vice president and provost’s office, said a Faculty Senate committee reviews all applications for the fellowship. She also said part of the application process for the faculty involves setting up coverage of their classes while they are away.