433 choose early retirement option
by Daniel
J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff
f there aren't as many familiar faces around
campus this week, it's no accident. Last Friday marked the final
day for more than 300 of the 433 staff and faculty who took advantage
of early retirement incentives aimed at trimming the state's personnel
costs.
Among those who left during
the three-month window were 73 faculty, 245 classified staff and
115 professional employees.
Though campus officials said
439 employees exited through the program, the final tally for participation
in the program was revised downward earlier this week as the State
Retirement Board notified Human Resources of two faculty and four
staff who withdrew their applications before the June 15 deadline.
According to Human Resources staff, another 123 employees, including
35 faculty, 51 classified and 37 professional employees previously
rescinded their applications for the statewide Retirement Incentive
Program.
Meanwhile, another 73 employees,
including 46 faculty, are scheduled to leave by next June as part
of a University-sponsored buyout of senior staff who are at the
maximum pension level of 80 percent. Eleven classified and 16 professional
employees also signed up for the University Retirement Bonus Program,
which is expected to save about $5.5 million in salaries. The cost
of the buyout is about $5.3 million, according to Administration
and Finance officials.
Together, the two retirement
programs mean the campus will start the fall semester with 119 fewer
teachers, decreasing the complement of full-time, tenure-system
faculty to 961, a drop of 11.2 percent. Unable to fill those empty
slots by fall, campus officials plan to hire temporary faculty for
the coming academic year.
Faculty retirements this spring
semester hit several departments particularly hard. By last week,
Mathematics and Statistics lost 11 faculty, while the English Department
and Department of Music and Dance each bid goodbye to eight. French
and Italian Studies, which had only 13 faculty, saw four veteran
teachers retire.
The biggest loss of faculty
occurred in the Humanities and Fine Arts (36), followed by Natural
Sciences and Mathematics (28) and Social and Behavioral Sciences
(19).
The retirements aren't being felt just in academic departments:
Physical Plant lost more than 80 employees, including two assistant
directors as well as dozens of tradesworkers such as electricians,
carpenters and locksmiths.
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