Retirement Planning and Opportunities

Phased Retirement

This Columbia University program aims to supplement retirement resources provided for tenured faculty who wish to gradually retire.  It establishes terms for retirement known in advance, faculty will be able to plan ahead more effectively.  It permits faculty to phase their retirement out over a period of three years maximum.

Participation in this program means that faculty can continue research, teaching, and other activities based on arrangements made with department chairs and approved by the Provost’s Office.

A Phased Retirement Agreement is drafted after terms are discussed and approved by the department chair.  The Department Administrator will draft this letter. The agreement is reviewed by the Provost’s Office for final approval.  The approval process usually takes 1-3 months prior to the phased retirement start date.  The faculty will be required to sign two original copies of this agreement, one which is returned to the Provost’s Office by the Office of Faculty Affairs.

The Provost’s Office expects that negotiated time efforts are clearly stated in this agreement.  These include details of each activity (teaching, research, or other activities), with % effort variable for each, which overall will add up to annual percent for each year of the phased retirement.  For instance, the first year of a phased retirement (July 1, 20xx – June 30, 20xx) can have a work reduction of 50% for that first year which may consist of 25% teaching one course, 20% sponsored projects, and 5% student advisement. If the second year of phased retirement is 25%, the % effort for these or other activities will also change.

Depending on terms, a tenured faculty can gradually reduce annual efforts from 75%, 50%, or 25% (or an equivalent % that decreases every year or the determined reduction can remain steady up to three years.  Benefits coverage change with scaled down annual efforts, but most remain intact if annual efforts do not go below 50%.

Retired Faculty

The University web site that provides information for retirees.

After retirement full professors are routinely given emeritus status.  The chair or dean must send a  request to the Provost.

Space

The new faculty lounge can be used by retired faculty for informal meeting space

Teaching/Mentoring Opportunities

Fully retired faculty can be appointed as a special lecturer to teach/mentor

Faculty can teach up to three classes per academic year but no more than two in one semester

Faculty can continue to mentor MPH and doctoral students

Research Opportunities

Fully retired faculty can be appointed as special research scientist/scholar to continue to serve as a co-investigator on grants and receive allocated %effort funding. They can continue to serve as the PI of an ongoing grant till its completion. They may also serve as PI on a new grant provided the following conditions are met and the School and CUIMC (currently Steve Shea) approves

#1 no other outside employment

#2 department chair must approve

#3 there must be an assessment of the situation. e.g., has this person given trouble in the past, do they have a long history here

Fully retired faculty can work on projects with Columbia Corporate Partnership

Fully retired faculty cannot be PI of an IRB

Communications

Fully retired faculty will lose their @cumc.columbia.edu address. They will keep their @columbia.edu email address. Thus, it is important that faculty ensure their department change their email in its faculty list serve to continue receiving announcements of department events

Retired faculty will be put on a School email list serve to receive notifications of school events

Faculty will need to transfer any messages they want to retain from @cumc accounts before they are closed.

Community

Columbia University has an organization called Emeritus Professors in Columbia University (EPIC) currently lead by Jeanne Stellman, Emeritus Professor from Health Policy and Management.

EPIC runs a wide range of activities from luncheons, lectures, exercise classes, etc

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