RICE UNIVERSITY

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

March 17, 1998

Dear Faculty Colleague,

Following up on the Provost's recent letter announcing a study of faculty retirement policies, and the appointment of our committee, we would like to invite all tenured and tenure-track faculty members to participate in focus groups on the subject of retirement and retirement planning. 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 factors important in the decision-making process that leads faculty to retire needs to be better understood. The purpose of the focus groups is to explore these issues. Discussions at these meetings will be guided to elicit candid feedback and comments. In addition to discussing your views on retirement, you will have the opportunity to complete a brief survey.

Specifically, the purpose of our focus groups (and the survey) is to:

Gauge awareness and understanding of Rice's current retirement program

Discuss the opportunities and challenges retirement presents

Determine the support Rice should provide in your retirement decision-making

Identify the financial and non-financial incentives that influence retirement decisions

Identify preferred retirement planning tools and information

While the immediacy of retirement varies according to individual circumstance, the need to plan for retirement is universal. Accordingly, focus group discussions will also emphasize planning tools and information that are useful--regardless of your age or how soon you plan to retire.

The specific responsibility of our committee is to identify the key parameters that influence the decision of Rice faculty to retire, and to suggest ways that the retirement process might be enhanced to the benefit of both the university and those who choose to retire. We are also asked to address issues of retirement planning--specifically, what can be done to help our faculty become more knowledgeable about the retirement process, especially at an early career stage when planning has the greatest long-term impact. In preparing our responses to these issues, the committee will be guided by faculty feedback from the focus groups and analysis of the survey. Our report is due at the end of the semester, so the focus groups and survey provide the only opportunity for individual faculty input on these issues.

Towers Perrin, a management consulting firm that specializes in human resource issues, will conduct the focus groups. Towers Perrin ensures that focus groups are conducted in complete confidentiality.

The schedule for focus groups is shown below. Please RSVP for a specific session by calling Janice Cain in the President's Office at 527-4043. Each session will last no longer than two hours. To promote open discussion, the focus group sessions are limited to about a dozen participants each--so call as soon as possible to reserve a time that is convenient for you. We hope that a high percentage of faculty will participate, and we will schedule additional sessions if those announced here become over-subscribed.

Feedback from the study will be shared with all participants and will guide discussions regarding University requirement practices in the future.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Ad hoc Faculty Advisory Committee on Retirement:

King Walters (Natural Sciences), Chair

Michael Bell (Architecture)

Marcia Citron (Shepherd)

Eugenia Georges (Social Sciences)

David Scott (Engineering)

Edward Williams (Jones)

Edith Wyschogrod (Humanities)

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Focus Group Meeting Schedule

Wednesday, March 25

8:00-10:00 a.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm, Memorial Center
4:00-6:00 p.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm., Memorial Center

Thursday, March 26

8:00-10:00 a.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm. , Memorial Center
4:00-6:00 p.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm., Memorial Center

Friday, March 27

12:00n-2:00 p.m. 3rd Flr Conf. Rm., Allen Center

Monday, March 30

12:00n-2:00 p.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm., Memorial Center

Tuesday, March 31

8:00-10:00 a.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm., Memorial Center
12:00n-2:00 p.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm., Memorial Center
4:00-6:00 p.m. 2nd Flr Conf. Rm., Memorial Center

Friday, April 3

12:00n-2:00 p.m. 4th Flr Conf. Rm., Allen Center

Please note that the second floor conference room in the Memorial Center can be reached by taking the stairs by the Grand Hall up to the top, then left.

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

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