RICE UNIVERSITY

Report of the Ad Hoc Faculty Advisory Committee on Retirement
August, 1998

To: ad-hoc Faculty Advisory Committee on Retirement

From: David Auston, Provost

Date: February 3, 1998

Subject: Charge to Committee

************************************************************** **********

Thank you for agreeing to be a member of the ad-hoc Faculty Advisory Committee on Retirement. As I mentioned to you when we spoke by telephone, the need for this Committee arose from a number of considerations.

First, as a consequence of the change in the retirement law in 1994, faculty are no longer required to retire at a specific age, and the decision-making process that leads faculty to retire needs to be better understood. Second, many of our faculty have expressed the view that we need to take a fresh look at our current retirement practices and policies and to ask how we might improve these to enhance the retirement process and thereby benefit both the University and the individuals who chose to retire.

The specific responsibility of this Committee is to identify the key parameters that influence the decision of Rice faculty to retire. Our colleagues in other institutions have cautioned us that these parameters are not universal; many are unique to the culture of a specific institution and we must assess their relative importance in formulating retirement practices and policies. For example, the faculty of one institution may feel that financial considerations are of paramount importance; in another, faculty may attribute a higher priority to medical benefits, the continued use of an office, or the opportunity to teach part-time. We must also be alert to possible variations between disciplines; an historian contemplating retirement may have a very different set of priorities and circumstances than does an architect or a musician. For this reason we have chosen to constitute the Committee with one faculty member from each of the seven academic divisions at Rice. I enclosed a list of the committee membership. King Walters has agreed to serve as your chair.

I also ask that you address the issue of retirement planning. Specifically, what can we do to help our faculty become more knowledgeable about the retirement process, especially at an early point in their career when planning has the greatest impact.

To facilitate your work, we have asked the consulting firm of Towers Perrin to work with us on this project. I expect their extensive experience with other universities and understanding of these issues will be an important asset. They will also provide the necessary administrative support for your work. For example, if you decide to conduct a survey of Rice faculty and/or meet with focus groups, they are available as a resource to help you formulate the issues, distribute a survey, collect data, and help with the analysis. They can also obtain information about the practices in other universities, should you require it. Let me emphasize, however, that our consultants are intended to assist you in your work; we want you to draw the conclusions from whatever information is obtained and to make the recommendations to us.

In the course of your work, I ask that you maintain close contact with my office and with Dean Currie's office. He and I have joint responsibility for developing a retirement plan based on your findings. Consultation with our standing Committee on Benefits and Faculty Council is also advised.

The product of your work should be a report summarizing your observations and recommendations, to be submitted no later than May 15, 1998. It should be concise and in a form suitable for distribution to all Rice faculty.

Thank you again for your willingness to contribute your scarce time and valuable energy to this important task. Please contact my office directly if you have any questions about the Committee's work or any other aspect of this project.

c.c.: Malcolm Gillis
Dean Currie
Walter Isle

To Report Home Page
To Table of Contents
To Conclusions and Recommendations
To Faculty Leadership Interviews Summary
To Faculty Focus Groups Summary
To Faculty Retirement Survey Summary (Part 1)
To Faculty Retirement Survey Summary (Part 2)
To Appendices

Rice Home Page

This page is maintained by the Office of the Provost at Rice University.