Retirement Plans for College Faculty at Public Institutions (original) (raw)
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With the graying of the professoriate continuing and the massive number of baby boomers entering retirement age, universities and college administrations need to adequately prepare for retirement. This is beginning to cause some staffing shortages in the faculty pipeline as well as the loss of institutional history and professional knowledge. Unlike many employing organizations, most institutions of higher education provide some sort of opportunity for its retired employees to remain connected to the institution. For retired faculty, this often comes in the form of the emeriti status rank. The overwhelming majority of faculty retirement research is focused on how institutions will manage the economic implications of retirement, particularly on retirement benefits and the financial costs to the institution. There has been little scholarship investigating the perspective of retirement from the individual and even less research in recent years. Recently retired faculty may have different expectations about retirement and the level of relationship they have with their former institution. This research examines this topic further. This qualitative study contributes to the higher education literature by providing an in-depth analysis of 14 faculty emeriti from a large, land grant institution who retired within the past two to five years, explored their relationship with their former institution. Using the literature about adult development and the professoriate, a semi-structured, in-depth interview protocol was developed. Data analysis was conducted using a grounded theory approach, with an emphasis on thematic findings. The resulting six main themes were: (1) the “nudge” toward retirement (motivating factors influencing the retirement decisions), (2) “no one owns your time”, (3) the unexpected (unanticipated events in retirement), (4) the continuity of scholarship activities, (5) new pathways in retirement, and (6) elements of the departmental and institutional relationship with the emeriti. With these findings in mind as well as the previous literature, two categories of faculty, the Attached and the Unattached, and their sub-types were identified which provide a better understanding of faculty emeriti and the level of involvement, if any, they may wish to have with their former institution and department. A new transitional phase model of faculty retirement was created which provides a reframing of previous transition models. Three types of involvement opportunities and several institutional exemplars are discussed that can foster emeriti involvement. The results may be beneficial for informing institutional policy, especially for human resource management, academic deans and department chairs. Lastly, there may be additional benefits for the retired faculty including greater satisfaction in retirement, improved mental and physical health, increased social networks, support for new endeavors and a continuation of their scholarship.
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This study examined retirement and other departure plans of full-and part-time faculty and staff in higher education institutions using data from the 1988 and 1993 National Studies of Postsecondary Faculty. Among the study's findings were: 22 percent of full-time and 38 percent of part-time faculty planned to leave their current position within the next three years; 57 percent of full-time faculty and staff planned to retire between the ages of 60 and 70; 28 percent of full-time faculty and staff indicated a willingness to take early retirement; and differences in retirement plans existed by gender, race/ethnicity, academic field, and type and control of institution. The study concluded that institutional policies such as early retirement incentives and part-time employment options may alter employees' retirement plans and behavior. Individual sections of the report detail the study's findings on: characteristics of full-time and part-time instructional faculty and staff; retirement and other separation and mobility plans; mobility to a job not in postsecondary education; expected retirement age or age when planning to leave postsecondary education; and interest in early retirement options. Appended are technical notes, standard error tables, and the survey questionnaires. (DB)