Academic Policy  1435.40A 

Guidelines for Proposals for Off-Campus Duty Assignment (OCDA)

Include the one-page cover sheet (Academic Policy 1435.40B) containing the following items of information: name, rank, and department; period of assignment, institution(s), location(s), and collaborator(s) for assignment, descriptive title of the proposed project, signature for agreement to return, signature by department chairperson
endorsing project, signature by dean and associate vice president(s) for Agriculture (Agriculture only) endorsing project, and dates and results/outcomes of previous OCDA assignments. NOTE: OCDA requests for the following year are due no later than November 15 each year.

The written statement proposing off-campus duty should contain the information specified below and such additional information as needed to support the request.

  • Explain the nature of the proposed work: describe what is to be accomplished during the period of the assignment and describe your research plan (the courses or activities in which you will participate). Provide a one-or two-line descriptive title of the proposed work.
  • A work product must be produced during the off-campus assignment. Define and describe the work product intended to be the outcome of this assignment. Examples could include a book, chapter, article, creative work, annotated syllabus and course plan for a new course, or a grant proposal. A copy of the work product is to be submitted within six months of the end of the assignment, along with a brief report on activities, to the department chair, dean, associate vice president(s) for Agriculture (Agriculture only), and provost.
  • State the name and location of the institution and the scholar with whom you will work or the programs and activities in which you will participate and the reasons for their selection.
  • Describe the preliminary professional work you have accomplished in anticipation of the off-campus duty assignment in initiating and planning the research, creative activity, or study.
  • Describe arrangements that have been made for working at the chosen site, including documentation such as permissions or invitations, if possible. Applications will be strengthened if supported by outside funding.
  • Explain how the off-campus duty will benefit you and support the curricular, research or creative, or service efforts of your department.

The written statement proposing off-campus duty should be accompanied by the following items:

  • A current, complete professional resume. Include, either as part of the resume or separately, a work-assignment summary for the last five years which includes the proportion of time assigned to teaching (and the number of classes taught each semester) and the proportion of time assigned to research and the proportion of time assigned to service or administrative duties. The resume should reflect the accomplishments in these separate areas for the last five years. If necessary, it should be annotated to make clear the qualifications for the proposed work.
  • An endorsement by the chairperson of the department indicating how the applicant’s usual duties will be performed in his or her absence, and assigning a priority to the applicant’s proposal if more than one proposal is being set forward from the department.
  • An endorsement by the dean and, the associate vice president(s) for Agriculture (Agriculture only).
  • A notation of present or past assumption by the applicant of duties for a colleague on off-campus duty.

NOTE: An individual not recommended for off-campus duty by the chairperson, the dean, and the associate vice president(s) for Agriculture (Agriculture only) may, if he or she wishes, request that the proposal for off-campus duty be forwarded for consideration by the dean and associate vice president(s) for Agriculture (Agriculture only) to the provost.

Reformatted for Web October 22, 2014

8/31/22
7/1/10