The Campus Chronicle
Vol. XVII, Issue 37
for the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts
June 28, 2002

 Page One Grain & Chaff Obituaries Letters to the Chronicle Archives Feedback Weekly Bulletin

 Page One Grain & Chaff Obituaries Letters to the Chronicle Archives Feedback Weekly Bulletin

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433 choose early retirement option

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

I

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Resources staff, another 123 employees, including 35 faculty, 51 classified and 37 professional employees previously rescinded their applications for the statewide Retirement Incentive Program.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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