Mind, Brain, Body, and Behavior

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 45

and prepared documents concerning the Assembly of Scientists, sab­
batical policies, appointment and promotion procedures, and tenure,
to be transmitted to the administration.^46

Sabbaticals

Another feature adopted from the academic world by the NIMH and
eventually the NIH as a whole was the principle of sabbatical leaves.
Universities had long had the practice of allowing senior faculty mem­
bers extended periods of time, at seven-year intervals, away from their
regular duties in order to sustain high quality creative scholarship. Such
leaves were viewed as providing scientists with “recurrent opportuni­
ties to renew their mastery of the field,...learn new technical and
conceptual skills and...obtain a new perspective on scientific values re­
lating to their work.”^47 As a result, the basic research laboratory chiefs,
under David Shakow’s chairmanship, and with Felix’s encouragement,
drafted a sabbatical leave program for the NIMH and the NINDB
that would allow senior scientists to benefit from such opportunities
for personal intellectual growth and career development as a way of
encouraging further creative work at the two institutes.^48

Tenure

An initiative that was fine-tuned under Livingston’s leadership involved
the principle of tenure. Neither the Civil Service nor the Commissioned
Corps distinguished between tenured and time-limited appointments,
awarding employees security after only one year of probationary em­
ployment.^49 This personnel system, however, was not appropriate for a
scientific research program that needed a longer period of time for the
development and evaluation of junior scientists’ skills.^50 Livingston fore­
saw three repercussions resulting from employing such a short tenure
criterion: “either the institutes would have to be expanded indefinitely,
or there would be inadequate space for essential research operations after
only two or three years of such practice, or there would be no opportun­
ity to provide research training for aspiring scientists.”^51 As a result, a
system whereby young scientists would be able to obtain research training