Writing a Sabbatical Proposal (When No One Tells You How)
Writing a sabbatical proposal can feel daunting, especially when there’s little official guidance on what’s expected. From gathering resources from coworkers to trying to predict what you’ll actually be working on a year from now, the process can quickly feel overwhelming.
But it doesn’t have to be. With some strategic thinking and a bit of insider perspective, you can write a proposal that’s both realistic and compelling — one that sets you up for success.
Learning from Others
When I was preparing my first sabbatical proposal, a generous colleague shared their successful application with me. It was an invaluable starting point — without it, I might have stared at the form, unsure what my university wanted.
What’s an acceptable purpose for a sabbatical? What sabbatical activities should I include? When does my sabbatical work need to be published?
But what worked for a colleague might not work for you. Everyone’s context is different: your career stage, your current projects, your teaching load, even personal life factors. Your sabbatical is just that – your sabbatical.
Having a colleague’s proposal is a helpful guide, and you should definitely talk to others about their sabbaticals! But writing a sabbatical proposal requires you to reflect on your own unique path and goals.
Use others’ sabbatical proposals as guides, not templates. Make yours just that – yours.
The Proposal Is a Balancing Act
Think of your sabbatical proposal as a pitch. You’re telling your university what you’ll do with this dedicated time, why it matters, and how it will benefit the institution.
Here’s the tricky part: you have to strike just the right balance.
If you overpromise — loading your proposal with lofty deliverables — you may sound ambitious now, but you’ll have to submit a report afterward. That report will clearly show if you didn’t deliver on what you said. At some institutions, this can affect whether you or your department gets future sabbaticals approved.
On the other hand, if you underpromise — hoping to “wow” folks later with how much you got done — you risk underselling yourself in a competitive pool, especially if sabbatical spots are limited.
The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle: goals that are genuinely impressive but realistically achievable in the time you have. That means stepping back, thinking strategically, and framing your proposal so the university sees the value — while setting yourself up to succeed.
And here’s another important piece: if your sabbatical ends up looking different than planned — maybe one project took longer, or you realized you needed more rest and renewal work than expected — that’s perfectly okay. When you write your post-sabbatical report, you’ll have space to explain those changes in context. Life and research are messy, and flexibility is part of the process. In fact, I’d argue that flexibility is a key piece of what an academic sabbatical should be. You’re not a failure for adapting.
Aim for ambitious but achievable goals in writing a sabbatical proposal (and be ready to adapt).
The Forecasting Problem
If that weren’t enough, there’s another challenge: timing.
Academics are typically tasked with writing a sabbatical proposal a year before the sabbatical starts. I consider myself organized and timeline-focused, but even I found it tough to predict what I’d be working on a year down the line.
Projects you thought would be done might still be mid-analysis. New opportunities might arise. A paper in second-round review might be rejected and need to be submitted elsewhere. Students might graduate, arrive, or need more support than planned.
And yet, the proposal still needs a clear plan.
That’s where knowing how to choose and frame your projects becomes key. I learned to lean heavily on work already in progress — projects far enough along to be predictable but still with substantial milestones ahead. That gave me credible, concrete goals without relying on “future me” to start brand-new things from scratch.
Choose projects that are underway but still have room to grow, so your sabbatical proposal is both clear and flexible.
Sabbatical Proposal Guide
Writing your sabbatical proposal well isn’t just about getting it approved — it’s about setting yourself up for a year that’s both productive and sustainable. Done thoughtfully, it becomes the first step in making your sabbatical more than just time away from teaching or committee work. It’s a strategic reset point in your career.
If you’re at this stage yourself, I’ve created something I wish I’d had when I was staring at that blank page: a free sabbatical proposal guide. In five key steps, with reflection prompts along the way, I’ll walk you through the essential considerations of the proposal process. That way, you can spend less time second-guessing and more time crafting a proposal you can both deliver on and feel excited about.
