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Harvard Offers Early Retirement to FacultyPosted on December 3, 2009 CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Harvard is offering early retirement to 180 faculty members at its various schools. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) at Harvard has offered a customized voluntary retirement program beginning on December 2 to 127 eligible faculty members. At the same time, four of Harvard’s graduate and professional Schools — Harvard Medical School, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Divinity School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education — are unveiling similar plans to eligible faculty. Eligible faculty who are ready to retire can do so in the next academic year, while others can wind down their teaching and research careers over several years. Faculty at the participating Schools must sign up by the deadline of June 30, 2010. “I am committed to supporting faculty members at every stage of their careers, from the day they enter the tenure track to the time they decide to transition into emeritus status,’’ said Dean Michael Smith of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in the Harvard Gazette. “The program FAS is offering is designed to be flexible, so that eligible faculty who are interested in participating will be able to choose an option that suits them best.” Across the University, about 180 faculty members are eligible to participate in the Schools’ programs. The early retirement program comes a few months after Harvard reported a 27.3% decline in its endowment last fiscal year. Harvard still has the largest endowment of any U.S. college with $26.0 billion. In June, the university laid off 275 workers which affected nearly every school and libraries on campus. |