The College will not make changes to its faculty retirement program despite the downturn in the economy, according to Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt. Several of Dartmouth's peer institutions, including Harvard and Yale Universities, may implement faculty retirement incentive programs in order to promote healthy turnover even as retirement investments have fallen in recent months.
Dartmouth's Flexible Retirement Option program, as it stands now, enables faculty to make a gradual shift from full-time employment to retirement over a three-year period. Eligible faculty must be between the ages of 59 and 67, have held the position of a benefits-eligible professor or associate professor for at least 15 years and either have tenure, or obtain approval by the dean of their division.
"Dartmouth already has a generous retirement package in place to assist faculty, and there are no plans to alter it," Folt said.
Folt said it is too early to predict whether a significant number of faculty members will choose to delay retirement due to the recent economic crisis.
"Individual faculty, like everyone else, are just starting to understand the effects of the economic downturn on their own financial planning," Folt said. "Current numbers of faculty considering retirement are within the historic normal range."
The number of faculty who retire in a given year can vary from two to 12, according to Folt, and she predicted this year's numbers will fall within that range.
"There really is no 'normal' year, because the ages of faculty vary widely, as does the age at which someone can choose to retire," she said. "Year-to-year variation is substantial."
She added that many of Dartmouth's retired faculty continue to write research grants, books and creative works, and that the timing of their retirements often depends on those circumstances.
Adam Keller, vice president for finance and administration, said he believes the College's faculty retirement option has always been strong and that there is no real need to enhance it, despite the fact that faculty members may be more hesitant to retire given the current economic climate.
"The plan offers a faculty member a gradual and graceful way to retire," he said. "I don't think changing it would have had any real impact."
The current economic crisis has undoubtedly affected faculty and staff retirement options, Keller said.
"I think for everybody, we're all looking carefully at what our retirement savings are," he said. "People who have defined contribution plans are less well off than people who have defined benefit plans given the current economic environment."
The College offers counseling for all faculty and staff regarding retirement and retirement savings on an ongoing basis. Demand for these services has increased during the current academic year, Keller said.
Between 75 and 80 Dartmouth employees chose to take advantage of the College's staff retirement incentive plan, according to Keller. The plan, which was introduced in December and did not apply to faculty, provided employees with an additional six months of pay following their last day of employment if they informed the College of their decision to retire by Jan. 16, 2009.
Until the implementation of the plan, the College expected staff retirement to be somewhat low, Keller said.
"It's more than twice what we expected for this year, given the state of the economy," he said. "It represents almost 15 percent of staff who were eligible."
Sixty percent of the vacated positions will be filled in some capacity, though many will be re-configured, Keller said.
"Part of our intent is to give ourselves some flexibility in terms of reorganization," Keller said. "I think it successfully reduced the number of layoffs we had to carry out."
Kate Farley, The Dartmouth Senior Staff, contributed to the reporting of this article.
