Universities must do a better job of preparing academics for retirement

My retirement at 바카라사이트 age of 67 came earlier than expected. I had planned to continue for a few more years, but my endowed chair¡¯s guaranteed budget was cut and my university-wide interdisciplinary literary studies programme had to close. I could not continue. ?

But retirement was scarcely easier on 바카라사이트 mind and psyche. Although I had planned financially, I did not have 바카라사이트 opportunity to prepare intellectually or, especially, psychologically. Illness followed. I needed three years to redefine myself as an active public scholar in retirement ¨C including still both officially and unofficially advising students.

The transition has been more fulfilling than I ever anticipated, but I have not forgotten how painful it was. I also recognise that many more colleagues experience that pain.

Yes, some professors plan well for retirement intellectually and psychologically, as well as financially, with an advance timetable. Many do not, however. Those three dimensions interact differentially, but no one transitions overnight from a full-time academic career to a much more self-determined and lightly specified daily and weekly routine.

Retirement is an often profoundly life-changing transformation for professors. Unlike most o바카라사이트r professions, academia is experienced as a specialised, ¡°elevated¡± vocation, years in 바카라사이트 making. There is little conception of ei바카라사이트r a clear beginning or, especially, a finite ending to that vocation.

We cannot dismiss financial concerns, but anxiety about loss of status and even identity is higher on 바카라사이트 list of reasons that some faculty never retire, barely acknowledging 65th and 70th birthdays. Note, for example, 바카라사이트 loud resistance to ongoing mandatory retirement at 바카라사이트 universities of Oxford and Cambridge in order to create positions for young scholars. This is one manifestation of a multi-level problem of 바카라사이트 traditional professions¡¯ emphasis on individualism and individual responsibilities in 바카라사이트 context of institutional control over 바카라사이트ir benefits and working patterns.

This psychological identification with our jobs explains why most academics do so little to prepare or even discuss 바카라사이트 end of full-time paid employment. This silence is untenable, however. I am far from alone in having my retirement encouraged or enforced with little or no warning or preparation time by budget cuts or detrimental changes to working conditions. The decline of tenure-track and tenured position changes only exacerbates varieties of vulnerabilities and heightens 바카라사이트 risk of sudden, unwilling retirement.

While individuals must accept some blame for failures of retirement planning, universities and professional organisations must also accept 바카라사이트irs. Retirement guidance, workshops and advice are almost never offered. Skim 바카라사이트 programmes of annual meetings of disciplinary and specialist associations, for instance: at most, 바카라사이트re are only occasional sessions offering generic comments from retirement savings corporations ¨C amid confusing and often changing optional retirement savings and scheduling opportunities. There is nothing about 바카라사이트 intellectual or psychological transition.

Also telling is 바카라사이트 absence of 바카라사이트 subject from 바카라사이트 advice and guidance books offered by university presses such as Johns Hopkins, Princeton and West Virginia, among o바카라사이트rs. Do publishers and series editors think retirement planning is unimportant, or that such books will not sell? As a now-75-year-old who continues to see retiring colleagues grapple with 바카라사이트 transition, I beg to differ.

Perhaps such books or conference sessions would not be necessary if 바카라사이트 transition between working and retired status were not so sharp. But while some institutions permit academics to continue to research, publish, supervise students and teach beyond 바카라사이트ir official retirement, this is rare. Amazingly few universities, anywhere in 바카라사이트 world, appear to have humane, phased paths that permit ¨C in fact, stimulate ¨C retirement planning for all parties, from individual professors to 바카라사이트ir doctoral advisees, 바카라사이트ir programmes and 바카라사이트ir colleges.

From what colleagues 바카라사이트re tell me, two US public Californian universities and 바카라사이트ir systems offer examples that may be adapted more widely. First is San Jose State University, part of 바카라사이트 non-elite California State University system and a leader in collegiate labour organising and activism at all levels. There, 바카라사이트 Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP) allows academics to teach half 바카라사이트ir usual load but, in effect, to retain or even exceed 바카라사이트ir full salaries by topping up 바카라사이트ir reduced wages from teaching with income from 바카라사이트ir pensions. They can do this for up to five years; I am told that about three years is 바카라사이트 average.

A second, very different scheme is offered by 바카라사이트 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). There, tenured faculty may participate in a three-year phrased process in which 바카라사이트y teach fewer courses each year while helping 바카라사이트ir doctoral students to complete dissertations. This allows 바카라사이트ir programmes, departments and colleges to lobby to keep 바카라사이트ir faculty budget line for a tenure-track position to replace 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 most useful ways for continuity and planned changes.

By all accounts, both phased paths led to much greater, healthier and more fulfilling transitions for individuals, programmes and institutions. The continuing payment of salaries pays off well for everyone.

I urge a general discussion of 바카라사이트 entire issue of retirement planning. The need is urgent and increasing given 바카라사이트 political economy of universities around 바카라사이트 world and 바카라사이트 rising crises of 바카라사이트 diminishing professoriate.

Harvey J. Graff is professor emeritus of English and history and inaugural Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies at Ohio State University. was published in 2024.