Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 02 September 01, 1994 - Retirement program approved

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Retirement program approved

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 2 - September 1, 1994

The state Attorney General's Office has approved the university's expanded incentive program for resignations or early retirements for faculty members. Approval was received August 3.

There were two major changes required by the Attorney General's Office in the Individual Transition Option (ITO) plan approved by the Board of Visitors in April. First, administrative and professional faculty members without tenure were not approved to participate in the plan. According to Pat Hyer, associate provost for administration, participation by A/P faculty members was disallowed because the original statute authorizing early retirement programs for faculty members stated that only tenured faculty members would be eligible to participate.

The second change required the university to establish specific age and service criteria for all three categories of the program. Age and service criteria for the category "Early Retirement" will be 55 years of age and 10 years of F-T service; for "Phase II" and "RIF" (reduction in force), the criteria are 45 years of age and five years of F-T service. (Please see accompanying tables for more details on the categories.)

Participation in the plan is voluntary and must be mutually agreeable to the individual faculty member and the university. Retirements are being funded by colleges' faculty salary budgets.

Applications for participation in the program have been accepted since April, but were held until approval of the plan by the Attorney General's Office. A few faculty members will be retiring as early as today. Most, however, will be retiring a year or two from now, Hyer said.

An open information session for faculty members interested in the ITO plan will be held September 13 from 2 to 3:15 p.m. in DBHCC conference room G. Hyer and Doug Martin, benefits programs manager, will conduct the information session.

For more information on the retirement plan, contact Hyer or Martin by e-mail (HYERP or DMARTIN), or call and leave a phone message at 1-6122 (Hyer) or 1-5304 (Martin).