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6 - 10.1

Administrative procedure regarding early retirement of regular full-time members of the faculty

  1. The decision to retire is an individual matter. Faculty members should first determine their retirement status and options with the state teachers retirement system. The university's staff benefits office will provide, upon request, information and advice regarding the state teachers retirement system's rules and regulations.
  2. The university, through the offices of the vice president for faculty affairs and personnel, the director of personnel, and the associate vice president for the extended university, will provide informal advice and council to any regular full-time faculty member who wishes to examine the possibilities of early retirement.
  3. After determining their retirement status with the state teachers retirement system, Kent campus faculty members interested in early retirement may initiate the process by writing to the chairperson, with copies sent to the dean and vice president. Regional campus faculty members may initiate the process by writing to the campus dean with copies to the associate vice president and the vice president, and the courtesy copies to the chair and college dean.
  4. The conditions of an early retirement agreement are subject to mutual assent by the faculty member and the university. For Kent campus faculty, the office of the vice president for faculty affairs and personnel will receive recommendations from the chairperson and dean before determining whether or not the university wishers to authorize the agreement. For regional campus faculty, the office of the associate vice president for the extended university will receive recommendations from the campus dean and make an independent recommendation to the vice president for faculty affairs and personnel.
  5. The following guidelines have been established for the development of early retirement agreements with members of the faculty.
    1. An early retiree may be offered a part-time appointment up to a half-time load for a designated number of years. Normally, such agreements are for a period of one to five year.
    2. An early retiree's part-time appointment may be for any part of an academic year or semester or summer term.
    3. Depending on the load factor of the part-time appointment, an early retiree is eligible to receive up to forty-seven per cent of his or her base salary at the time of retirement.
    4. In agreements of longer that one year's duration, the base salary of the early retiree will be adjusted proportionately according to the same percentage amount of any across-the-board salary increase given to regular full-time members of the faculty.
    5. An early retiree who is on the graduate faculty, may continue as a graduate faculty member if offered a part-time appointment. The status of the retiree's graduate faculty appointment is subject to review at the time of the retiree's departmental graduate faculty review.
    6. Upon the recommendation of the chairperson and the dean (for Kent campus faculty) or of the associate vice president for the extended university (for regional campus faculty), the early retirement agreement will be prepared by the office of the vice president for faculty affairs and personnel and submitted to the prospective retiree for the review and acceptance.
Policy Effective Date:
Mar 01, 2015
Policy Prior Effective Dates: 
08/15/1983, 08/14/1985, 11/22/1985, 12/29/1986, 6/1/2007