Drafted by Committee on Conference with Trustees Endorsed by the Faculty at the December 2016 Faculty Meeting
Faculty members at The College of Wooster play a major role in enacting the mission and core values of our institution through their mentoring of students and through their commitment to excellence in both teaching and research as “integrated forms of inquiry.” Due to this role, the College needs: (a) to be as mindful in guiding senior faculty members toward retirement as it is in guiding young faculty members toward successful tenure and promotion and (b) to take care in fostering positive relations with retirees, a group of individuals who have contributed greatly to the College and who can continue to serve as a valuable resource for the institution.
In this spirit, we offer the following principles:
- Both faculty transitioning into retirement and faculty retirees are important parts of our diverse community who can contribute in important ways to the institution, the education of students, and community life on campus.
- The College should devote attention and resources to assist late career faculty members in thoughtfully considering the trajectory of their remaining years as full-time members of the faculty.
- Information about the impact of retirement on salary and benefits should be readily available to faculty members in up-to-date, easily accessible form, along with the name and contact information of a designated point person who can provide informed advice on these matters.
- The process of retirement should be transparent in that faculty members should be aware of the potential to negotiate a phased retirement and also know that phased retirement is not guaranteed.
- In any negotiation for possible phased retirement, the interests and desires of all parties in discussion (i.e., retiree, departments/programs, provost) should be considered.
- The College should continue to provide resources to faculty members in phased retirement to support their attendance at professional and scholarly meetings and their projects in teaching, research, and scholarship. In addition, the College should strive to provide resources to faculty members in early retirement to assist them in completing and/or presenting research, pedagogical, and/or scholarly projects. In both cases, such faculty work is mutually beneficial to the faculty member and to the institution.
- The College should establish clear and regular means of communication with retirees both for purposes of discussing issues that directly affect them (e.g., changes in benefits) and for establishing and maintaining good relations with this valuable constituency.