The Future of the Professoriate:
the Impact of Faculty Retirements
The
average age of American professors is rising. Cited reasons
include massive hiring in the 1960s, little growth in total
faculty size, slow faculty turnover, good health care, and
a decline in the rate of retirement.
In
the next few years, American campuses may experience a surge
in faculty retirement. The changing over of the professoriate
promises to influence undergraduate education in a variety of
ways. Some believe it will provide opportunities for strategic
hiring to encourage innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
The trend may also, however, lead to problems as schools lose
experienced faculty leaders and perspectives only senior faculty
can offer. How quickly the "graying" of the professoriate
will empty the ranks is difficult to determine because of the
1993 uncapping of the mandatory retirement age. The elimination
of the forced retirement of faculty took place just as a large
number of faculty from the '60s and '70s reached retirement
age.
IMPLICATIONS
Possible outcomes of senior faculty
retiring en masse include:
-
Money for new tenure track
positions;
-
Opportunities to hire faculty
more comfortable with emerging technology that matches
student comfort levels;
-
Diversity among faculty members
that reflects the diversity of student bodies;
-
Curricula updates & diversity
of course offerings;
-
New faculty voices and leadership
to rejuvenate departments;
-
Infusion of faculty into rapidly
changing fields and new areas of inquiry;
-
Loss of experienced faculty
and administrators (People who know how to do anything
from applying for a grant to handling a promotion)
This article is compiled from a
report by Cathleen Fleck from AAC&U's Greater Expectations
initiative. For the original report, visit www.greaterexpectations.org/briefing_papers/FacultyRetirement.html.
For information about the
changing nature of how future faculty are prepared, see AAC&U's
major initiatives and other briefing papers prepared for the
Greater Expectations Initiative http://www.aacu.org/gex
and Preparing Future Faculty http://www.aacu.org/pff.
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DID YOU KNOW?
A Timeline:
-
1960s-early 70s: boom in faculty
hires
-
1977: median age of faculty
is 40 years old
-
1986: amendments to the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act allow postsecondary institutions
to enforce mandatory retirement at age 70
-
1989: 24% of professors are
55 and older
-
1993: boom hirees reach retirement
age; following a review of 1986 legislation, Congress
allows the amendments to expire on December 31
-
1996: median age of faculty
climbs to 48
-
1989: surveys indicate that
24% of faculty are 55 and over
-
1999: surveys suggest that the
number of faculty 55 and over has jumped to 32%
-
1999: TIAA-CREF survey finds
that 81% of colleges & universities offer an early
retirement package.
-
2001: Recent data suggests that
about 45% of two-year college faculty will retire in the
next six years, and 34% will retire in the next ten years.
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