Faculty Development Leave

Recognizing the importance of a vibrant, professionally active faculty to the success of its mission, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi provides paid leaves of absence from normal faculty duties for the purpose of professional development. Applicants must be tenured, full-time faculty members with a minimum of six (6) consecutive academic years of service at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi at the time leave is to begin, plans to continue employment at TAMU-CC for at least the next academic year, is not a member of the CFE committee, and if awarded a Faculty Development Leave award, they shall not be eligible for another such award for the next six academic years. 

The Academic Unit Director/Dean must submit the faculty Application Package to the Center for Faculty Excellence (lorena.newsome@tamucc.edu) no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 17, 2025 end of business day.

NOTE: The faculty must submit their application to their Director/Dean at least two weeks before the deadline to give the Academic Unit Director/Dean sufficient time to meet the deadline. 

A travel request for any international travel must be submitted as soon as possible after FDL is approved. 

Please review and follow the process below: 

STEP 1: Prepare the two files listed below and submit them to your Academic Unit Director/Dean's office by at least two weeks prior to the FDL deadline mentioned above.  

1. Faculty Development Leave Proposal form. This form must be attached as the first page of your application package and submitted as a single pdf to your Academic Unit Director/Dean.  
2. A single Application Package file using your last name and first name as the filename (e.g., if your name is John Smith, the file should be named as SmithJohn.doc or SmithJohn.pdf). 
3. This Application Package file must contain the following: 
   1. TAMUS Regent's Abstract – (200 words). This section should not be longer than one page, double-spaced (12 pt. Times New Roman font), single-sided, not more than 200 words, describing the project for which you are requesting leave. Regent's Abstract must include City, State/Country and location where leave is to be taken, as well as your name and contact information.  
      1. SAMPLE REGENT'S ABSTRACT:  Leave will be spent at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)-Cuernavaca which houses the Center for Genomic Sciences and the Institute of Biotechnology.  During the leave, collaborative research activities in the area of evolutionary ecology of insect-microbe associations will be conducted.  Such activities will contribute to building skills needed for new research directions, enable field studies and establish new international research collaborations.  The leave is also expected to benefit students with findings of the research incorporated into lectures and will open collaborative and exchange opportunities for Texas A&M students and colleagues.   
   2. Project Description* - (5 pages). This section should not be longer than five pages, double-spaced, single-sided (12 pt. Times font), and should include the following: 
      1. Objectives/Hypotheses 
      2. Significance to your discipline 
      3. Research/Creative Activity Plan (methodology, timeline, etc.)
         1. Must include estimated number of days you will be in any individual international location. Please note that if more than 60 days, additional processing time may be required.  
      4. Anticipated Outcomes/Products 
      5. Statement of Benefit to students, department, college, university, and/or community. 
         *Only five pages of the Project Description will be read; extra pages will not be considered. 
   3. References List/Bibliography - (2 pages). This section should not be longer than two pages, double-spaced, single-sided (12 pt. Times New Roman font). 
   4. Curriculum Vita. This section should provide a record of publications or creative works; previous research grants, including results/outcomes; and professional development activities. 
   5. Peer Statements. Statements written by at least two professional peers (one of whom must be your Department Chair) assessing the proposal’s merit and a statement of support from the College Dean. 

STEP 2: All completed viable applications, with a statement of approval from the dean/director , will be submitted to the CFE by the Academic Unit Director/Dean with notice to the requesting faculty member. 
 
STEP 3: The above files should be emailed as a single PDF to lorena.newsome@tamucc.edu by the Academic Unit Director/Dean no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 17, 2025. 

Click on the links below to view presentations given at the Fall 2024 FDL Reception by the 23-24 FDL Awardees.

Robin Carstensen's Video

Celil Ekici's PPT

Jennifer Epley Sanders' PPT 

Ethan Thompson's Video

Abu Waheeduzzaman's PPT 

Yuliana Zaikman's PPT

Lin Zhang's PPT 

Quihong Zhao's PPT