GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
SABBATICAL LEAVE REQUEST APPLICATION FORM
1. Name: Stephen Borders, PhD, MSHP 2. Date employed by GVSU August, 2003
3. College: CCPS
4. Unit SPNA
5. Semester(s) and year of latest sabbatical leave None
6. Dates of Leave of Absence as faculty since the latest sabbatical leave None
7. Sabbatical leave is being requested for this year and semester(s)
Fall
X
Winter X
Academic Year 2010-2011
8. Sabbatical Title Creating a Transportation Disadvantaged Index
9. Are grants, fellowships, or other financial support expected during the sabbatical leave? Specify.
Yes, I completed the first year of the project with the Children’s Health Fund out of New York. They
have contracted with me for $20,000 to do some preliminary work during the current academic year to
begin work on this index and have agreed in principle to continue the funding for another two years at
$20,000.
10. Is acceptance of a sabbatical award dependent on your receiving some additional support?
Specify. No
11. Where will the sabbatical work be done? The work will be completed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
12. In accord with the Sabbatical Policy as stated in Chapter 4, 2.30.4D of the Administrative Manual
(see also Chapter 3, Section 3.04.C.5.d, Chapter 3, Section 3.04.E.6,7 and Chapter 4, Section 4.02
item 2.30.4.D, Faculty Handbook), I agree to submit a written account of my activities and a
financial statement by the end of the term following my leave. I will remain at Grand Valley State
University for at least one year after completion of my leave regardless of the length of the
sabbatical.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Signature of Applicant
Date
This sabbatical request has been reviewed by:
Unit
(approval, disapproval, or approval as modified)
Date
Applicant's Unit Head
(approval, disapproval, or approval as modified)
Date
Chairperson, College Personnel Committee
(approval, disapproval, or approval as modified)
Date
Dean
(approval, disapproval, or approval as modified)
Date
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(approval, disapproval, or approval as modified)
Provost
Rev. 5/92; reviewed 2003; revised 6/06
Date
SABBATICAL APPLICATION FORM FOR PREPARATION OF SABBATICAL LEAVE
REQUESTS
A. This application is to be submitted to the College Dean no later than November 1 of the
academic year preceding the academic year of leave. Unit review must therefore be complete
before November 1.
B. Please type using 12 point font (either single or double space) a maximum of 10 pages for the
narrative. Supporting letters and documents may be placed in an appendix. Use the “Sabbatical
Leave Request Application Form” as the cover page to your proposal. Your Dean's office will
tell you how many copies are needed.
C. Using this form, fill in the expandable gray boxes (Numbers 1-8) with narrative text. Please
follow the instructions given under each heading, and be sure to complete each field.
1.
Descriptive title of your project.
Transportation Disadvantaged Index
2.
Goals and objectives.
Proposals must have a clear conceptual focus. Be certain that the conditions and criteria
for sabbatical leave as stated in the Administrative Manual, chapter 4, section 2.30.4.D),
have been addressed. Proposals should be specific about the academic purpose of the
leave. In particular, a proposal should conform to some or all of the following:
a) a planned effort to retrain professionally (with approval of the chair);
b) development of new capabilities for teaching or research;
c) a synthesis or development of prior effort or experiences;
d) concern with a significant problem, area, or issue in the field of study;
e) promise of a significant contribution to the subject under study or problem
undertaken;
f) practice of skills or application of research result which deepens or extends the
applicant’s professional capabilities.
This sabbatical proposal offers a number of goals and objectives consistent with those prescribed by
the university. For example, I plan to develop a number of new capabilities for teaching and
research. While I have begun to learn GIS, working on this project will undoubtedly sharpen those
skills. As the number of students interested in GIS continues to grow each year, I will be able to
compliment the GIS skills of the current faculty in regards to health care. I hope to be able to
support our health students interested in GIS problems upon completion of my sabbatical. More
importantly, this work is taking national prominence and offers the ability to work collaborative with
one of the leading children’s health advocacy organizations in the United States (The Children’s
Health Fund) as well as to help shape national policy to improve access to health care services.
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3. Evidence of preparation.
Describe academic preparation that contributes to feasibility of the project, placing the
planned activity in the context of your field. There shall be a thorough attempt by the
proposer to search the literature and to place the planned activity in the context of that
literature. This may take the form of literature citations, consultations, and indication of
previous work in the field. If a book is being written, append an outline or table of
contents to demonstrate that groundwork has been laid.
Transportation problems remain a significant, but poorly understood component to health care
access. Transportation is frequently cited as a barrier to accessing health care services, but
rarely have researchers evaluated the problem in depth nor are there widely agreed upon
solutions to this key access barrier. Health policy experts now recognize that merely having
health care insurance does not assure access to the health care system. While access is
complicated by numerous factors, such as the availability of health care providers and several
socioeconomic factors, this research is one of the first to focus solely on transportation barriers
as they relate to children’s access to and of preventive and routine health care services. This
sabbatical proposal will include the final year of a three year study I am current engaged in with
the Children’s Health Fund. I recently delivered a first year report to the Children’s Health
Fund. Below are a few highlights from the first year of the current research project to develop an
index for children who are transportation disadvantaged in terms of accessing appropriate and
timely health care services.
I successfully modeled several socioeconomic, provider and transportation-related barriers
affecting children’s access to routine and preventive health care services. Using regression
analysis, I developed three preliminary models to form the basis of the Children’s Transportation
Disadvantaged Index. With these models, we now have a better understanding of how
transportation-related barriers impact children’s access to health care services. These models can
easily be adapted and tested in other areas to confirm their accuracy and reliability. Once these
models are verified in other areas of Texas and the U.S., they can be standardized which will
become the basis for the Children’s Transportation Disadvantaged Index.
Using geographic information systems (GIS), I located potential problem areas in and
around the greater Austin metropolitan area. Utilizing Texas hospital discharge data, I
examined a series of children’s access problems to routine and preventive health care services by
examining ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions. ACS conditions are hospitalizations that
are largely preventable by timely and appropriate primary and preventive health care. Thus, high
rates of hospitalization for these conditions serve as indicators of a need for better or appropriate
primary care. I developed a series of maps to help understand the various spatial and proximal
relationships of ACS conditions with a number of socioeconomic, provider and transportationrelated barriers. These maps can help identify particular areas in need of transportation
solutions.
We (myself and the Children’s Health Fund) raised awareness of children’s transportation
barriers this year. We presented the conceptual approaches and preliminary findings at two
national conferences this year. We presented our findings at the Community Transportation
Association of American 2009 national meeting in Providence, RI. CTAA hosted a full session
dedicated to the issue of children’s transportation barriers. Dennis Johnson and Roy Grant of the
Children’s Health Fund and Stephen Borders of Grand Valley State University presented at the
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conference. The session was taped and is now available online through the CTAA website. In
addition, Roy Grant and Stephen Borders also made a poster presentation at 2009 Academy
Health National Research Conference in Chicago, IL.
4. Project Plan.
Describe the sabbatical project. Show how that plan relates to its goals and objectives.
Historically, access to health care in the United States has been viewed in terms of one’s ability to
pay for needed medical services or the actual availability of those services. Programs such as
Medicaid have eliminated the financial barrier to care that many low-income people face in receiving
care, but many barriers to care remain. One of those is transportation. Transportation is frequently
cited as a barrier to health care, but is not well understood. This project will seek to develop an
index of those who are transportation disadvantaged in terms of accessing health care.
The analysis will continue to build on the findings of the first and second years of the project. In
year 1, I develop a series of maps detailing areas and summarizing those who are transportation
disadvantaged. I also built three regression models to help predict where and for whom,
transportation barriers to health care services are problematic for in Texas. The preliminary model
was successful in predicting children’s transportation barriers to health care services in Texas and the
Children’s Health Fund has asked me to begin focusing on other areas of the country. The year 1
target area will be Mississippi and the year 3 target area will be New Mexico.
5.
Timetable.
Indicate estimated dates for each of the significant steps in the project plan. Be as specific
as possible. Include an explanation showing whether the project can be completed in the
time available. If the sabbatical leave is being used to begin a longer term project, state
when you expect the whole activity to be completed.*
The sabbatical will commence during the final year of the three project. I was successful in
obtaining a number of data sources to complete a preliminary model through the Texas Department
of Transportation and the Texas Department of State Health Services. I learned a great deal about
the usefulness and the limitations of the data I had. I used hospital discharge data to categorize
children’s emergency department utilization of services. These data were used a proxy measure for
access to care. Researchers have argued that certain conditions like asthma and diabetes are
ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions —that is, hospitalization is largely preventable by
timely and appropriate primary and preventive health care. Thus, high rates of hospitalization for
these conditions serve as indicators of need for primary care. Using data such as these, I mapped
the areas within the state where ACSCs are the highest and began to overlay those with other
important demographic, social and transportation variables. From these data, I build the
regression model and a series of maps for Texas. I will do the same sort of analysis in
Mississippi this year and will repeat the analysis in New Mexico during the final year of the
project, during my sabbatical year. I will fly to Jackson, Mississippi with representatives from
the Children’s Health Fund to obtain the data and agreements from the Mississippi Department
of Health to perform the analysis in year 2. I anticipate repeating this process for the final year
of the project in a visit to New Mexico. The Children’s Health Fund has good relationships with
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state health providers and has been able to act as a conduit to obtain data critical to the analysis
and project at hand.
6.
Benefit to one’s own or other units.
A clear relationship between the proposed sabbatical leave and a proposer’s academic unit
shall be demonstrated. If your project is to benefit a unit other than your home unit,
describe that situation. Attach signed, written verification of that benefit from the head of
that other unit.
This research should help raise the profile of the scope and type of research the university is
engaged in. In addition, by sharpening my GIS and analytical skills, I will be more valuable to the
department because of my ability to teach or support GIS courses as well as improving my ability to
teach research methods.
7.
Arrangements with people or other institutions.
If the project requires collaboration with other institutions or persons, describe the
collaboration and provide evidence that the institutions or persons involved agree with
the arrangements.** If not, please indicate that no collaboration is necessary or planned.
For books, indicate interest of potential publisher if available. You may append
correspondence.
I will continue to collaborate with the Children’s Health Fund although have provided no more
support beyond the current grant at this time.
8.
Other relevant information.
9.
Appendices.
a. Attach copies of previous sabbatical reports in the Appendix.
b. Attach a copy of your curriculum vitae in the appendix.
This should be current and complete. Include a list of publications, exhibitions,
performances, and productions.
c. Attach letters of support or other supporting documentation.
D. If modification is made after a step in the review process but prior to the College Personnel
Committee recommendation, incorporate the modification into the appropriate section of the
final proposal as opposed to appending pages. If changes are proposed after the final approval
but before or during the sabbatical period, prior consultation with the chair of the unit should
occur and a new formal plan document must be approved by the Dean and the Provost before
implementation of the proposed plan.
E. Final Report. Each faculty member returning from sabbatical leave will provide a written
account of the sabbatical activities and accomplishments and deposit copies with his/her
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appointing officer and unit head, the Provost, the President, the Research and Development
Center, and the library. The report shall be filed no later than the end of the first semester after
return to campus and shall include an account of the financial remuneration received during the
sabbatical leave. Failure to complete the approved sabbatical project, submit a final report or
participate in dissemination of sabbatical work may negatively affect an annual salary adjustment
and decisions on future sabbatical proposals.
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*In such a case, your sabbatical report is to be made as scheduled by the policy stated in the
Administrative Manual even if the entire project is unfinished. Report on whatever was
accomplished during the sabbatical leave.
**If there is a possibility of creating Intellectual Property during a sabbatical and you are involved in
external collaboration with another university, business or organization, it is important to review the
GVSU and collaborating institution Intellectual Property Policy (IPP) prior to initiating work
activities. For support in the IPP review contact GVSU legal counsel.
Revised 6/06
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