Open Forum for Faculty

Committee RosterCommittee Roster Dean Greg Shepherd, Co-chair Elizabeth Sayrs, Faculty Co-chair Leon Hoshower, Faculty Ella McCown, Faculty George Johanson, Faculty Tootie Overby, School Director/Faculty Chris Simpson, Department Chair/Faculty Steve Grimes, Early Retired Faculty Gary Schumacher, Early Retired Faculty Greg Fialko, University Human Resources Gary Neiman, Q2S Co-director Marty Tuck, Provost Office

To produce a report identifying best practices for early retirement programs by:

Assessing the degree in which each option is in the interests of faculty, retirees, academic units and the university.

Assessing financial feasibility of each option considered.

Recommend the optimal way to transition the existing early retirement program to meet the needs of the current cohort of early retired faculty and the emergence of Ohio University’s semester system.

To recommend changes to the Faculty Fellowship Leave (sabbatical) policy to bring it into compliance with the characteristics and needs of a semester calendar.

To inform Ohio University faculty of the scenarios being considered by the committee in order to transition the Faculty Fellowship Leave and the Early Retirement Program(s) into a semester academic calendar.

To receive feedback from current Group I faculty and early retired faculty in order to help inform the recommendations of the committee.

Current program under a quarter calendar

Program being considered for a semester calendar

Every seven academic years, Group I faculty are eligible for a fellowship leave.

Faculty may take a one quarter leave at full salary, 2 quarters at 3/4 salary or a full academic year at 2/3 salary.

Faculty must file a report describing their accomplishments from the leave before they can be approved for additional leaves.

Frequency unchanged. Faculty will be eligible for leave every 7 academic years.

Faculty may take a one semester leave at full salary or a full year leave at 2/3 salary.

Proposed program is similar to the programs at other institutions on a semester calendar.

Current program under a quarter calendar

Program being considered for a semester calendar

Faculty who choose to participate in the program agree to teach a “full teaching load”, one quarter each year at 1/3 of their academic salary at the time of retirement.

The early retired faculty member, in consultation with the department chair/director, choose the quarter which he/she will teach and the specific course duties that will be assigned.

The faculty member can continue this arrangement until the age of 70 or can void the agreement at any time before 70.

Workload responsibilities while on early retirement typically means teaching courses, however faculty may negotiate with their chair/director and college dean to reduce the full teaching load by adding other responsibilities such as research/scholarship and service.

Under semesters, it is anticipated that 3 courses per term will typically constitute a “full teaching load” for faculty not heavily engaged in research or service activities.

Faculty who choose to participate in the program will agree to teach part-time 2 courses for one semester or 1 course each semester for a full academic year for 1/3 of their academic salary at the time of retirement.

The other conditions, determination of term and courses taught; length of time the faculty member can remain on the program (until 70) and the workload flexibility will remain unchanged from the current program.

While the committee understands that teaching load will vary from department/school to college, consistency in workload is important for fairness and operation of the program.

The teaching workload is frequently 3 courses per semester for group I faculty whose scholarship/service expectations are at a minimum.

What will be the interest in the Early Retirement Program when it means a minimum of a 15 week commitment of faculty?

Evaluation of Early Retired Faculty

Health benefits for most early retired faculty currently on the program are provided by STRS. For early retired faculty who are on the ARP plan is there interest in purchasing health insurance from the university plan?

Other issues which the committee should consider/address?