Dive Brief:
- Former UCLA sociology professor David Lopez is taking on a new role as the school's retirement liaison for former colleagues considering or actively transitioning into life after the classroom.
- The goal is to reach more than 300 faculty members who desire to have a continuing relationship with the university through research, and those who have not considered their full financial and benefit options until exploring their departure plans.
- Lopez told the Chronicle of Higher Education that retirement also allows for a smoother transition of younger, rising faculty members to replace the work and presence of tenured and more seasoned professors and allows retirees the benefit of remaining on campus in a usable capacity during this replacement process.
Dive Insight:
Many universities are dealing with the financial burden of retirement, with considerations for cutting tenure programs and finding new ways to fund benefit packages as a result.
For campus executives, having a peer to explain the nuances of these processes, while also finding ways for retiring professors to be a financial asset to the school through research and recruitment of faculty and students, is an ideal way to maintain structure and revenue streams.