Policy on Post-Retirement Faculty Employment

Upon retirement, whether full retirement or at the end of a Phased Retirement Contract, re-employment of a retired faculty member may be considered ONLY if each of the conditions detailed below are met and understood by all involved. Chairs should discuss and provide a copy of these conditions with a faculty member when he/she indicates a decision to retire is being considered or has been made. The information below may have impact on the faculty member’s decision.

• A department may consider employment of retired faculty at the same time it considers the entire soft money budget for the upcoming fiscal year (usually in the early Spring in the prior academic). Such appointments are part of an overall plan to meet department needs and need to be covered by a department’s soft money budget. The retired faculty member will not appear on the temporary faculty roster, but must have a Prior Approval Request (FPT or FPN), which indicates the employee’s Modified Service status.

• A retired faculty member may be considered for an appointment to teach only courses normally taught by temporary faculty. This means core, undergraduate, enrollment-demand classes that cannot otherwise be taught by tenured and tenure-track faculty.

• Summer appointments will not be permitted without explicit written permission from the dean.  In the event that permission is granted, the department must verify that all tenured and tenure-track faculty were given an opportunity to teach prior to the consideration of a retired faculty member.

• Chairs must state expressly in preliminary discussions or correspondence with the faculty member, as well as in the letter of offer, that if approved, the appointment would be non-tenured one-time-only appointment. There can be NO implications for future appointments. As with all appointments of temporary faculty, the appointment is subject to enrollment and budgetary circumstances. The appointment does NOT hold all the rights or privileges to which regular faculty may have been accustomed, such as tenure, prime office space consideration, higher levels of staff/operational/travel support, class scheduling preference, etc. Their rights and privileges are the same as those of other part-time temporary faculty members.

• Barring unusual circumstances, the individual’s academic rate on a post-retirement appointment should be the same as his or her rate at the time of retirement. Exceptions should be addressed and specifically requested and/or the PAR (FPT) is prepared. The percent time of the appointment should be equal to that of a temporary faculty appointment.

• Retiree appointments should reflect an emergency situation, and should be limited to one course and one semester.

• If the appointment is made, the individual’s title will be dependant upon his or her title upon retirement.   The academic title of a retired individual should always be noted as being (MS).  MS stands for Modified Service, and this designation (MS) is part of the individual’s title on the temporary appointment. If he or she held an endowed position, that named title and any claim to endowment funds or benefits was relinquished at the time of retirement. There is no tenure associated with this appointment, and no connection to endowments a retiree may have held during regular employment.

• A modified service appointment in the College of Liberal Arts is subject to the above conditions, as well as all University rules and regulations.

Contact

• Cindy Brewer, 512-232-7025