The purpose of the research assignment is to enhance the value of faculty members at Old Dominion University, both to the University and to the Commonwealth, by providing assignments of certain faculty members to a semester or a year of productive research related to their respective disciplines and clearly designed to enhance their teaching effectiveness on the undergraduate or graduate level.

The purpose of the development assignment is to enhance the value of faculty members at Old Dominion University, both to the University and the Commonwealth, by providing to certain faculty members a semester or a year of structured study in an area in which expertise is needed for the teaching function of the institution and is not otherwise available to the University.

The provost and vice president for academic affairs may establish a limit on the number of research and development assignments to be awarded during one semester.

Any faculty member is eligible to apply for a research or development assignment of one semester or one year provided he or she is a tenured full-time faculty member who has accumulated five continuous years of service at Old Dominion University.

A faculty member is eligible to apply for an additional assignment provided that five years of continuous service at the University have elapsed since the return of the faculty member from the awarded research or development assignment. The department chair must certify that the courses normally assigned to the faculty member will be covered during the leave.

An exception may be made in the case of a faculty member who has been requested to defer a faculty research and development assignment for the convenience of the University. Such an individual will be eligible for another research or development assignment five years from the completion date of the originally requested assignment period. In order to define clearly the University’s position and to protect the interests of the faculty members who are asked to defer the research and development assignment, the provost and vice president for academic affairs must approve in writing and confirm agreements for deferral of research and development assignments for the convenience of the University. Such assignment must have the approval of the department chair (after consultation with the department), the dean, and the provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Application for a research assignment should include the following: (a) a detailed proposal outlining the program of research to be undertaken during the research assignment and approved by the chair of the department and the dean of the college; (b) evidence of the faculty member's qualifications for conducting this research, including documentation of previous research accomplishments and publications; and (c) anticipated results of the research assignment, including anticipated publications.

Applications for research or development assignments scheduled to begin in the fall semester must be submitted to the provost and vice president for academic affairs at least by January 1 of the previous academic year. Applications for research or development assignments to begin in the spring semester must be submitted to the provost and vice president for academic affairs at least by September 1 of the same academic year.

A faculty member may be granted a research or development assignment of one semester or one full year. A faculty member who is approved for one semester shall be assigned full time to research or development for that period and shall receive regular compensation from the University, provided that he or she accepts no other outside employment during the semester. The faculty member will be counted as one full-time equivalent faculty member on the workload analysis

A faculty member who chooses a one-year research or development assignment shall receive one-half compensation from the university during this period and may accept outside employment provided that the total income during the academic year does not exceed the faculty member's contractual salary. If the faculty member accepts outside employment for more than one-half of the contractual salary, the reimbursement from the university will be adjusted accordingly. If the department is meeting its stipulated faculty-student ratio, one-half of the normal compensation of the faculty member will be available to the department for the employment of additional personnel.

With the next annual review, the faculty member shall include a report on his or her research accomplishments during the assignment.

With the next annual review, the faculty member shall include a report on his or her development accomplishments during the assignment.

Any faculty member receiving a research or development assignment must agree to return to full-time teaching and research duties at Old Dominion University for a period of not less than one academic year.