If you are considering retirement, please first reach out to your HR specialist to determine if you qualify. 

We know it often takes years of planning in advance before making a decision about when to retire. Faculty Affairs has partnered with Human Resources, Finance and Administration, Information Technology, and a retired Emeritus Faculty member to create this brief informational video (22 minutes):

Introduction to Retirement for Faculty (video)

This video includes the following content to aid faculty in retirement planning:

  • Overview of retirement resources available through Human Resources
  • Information and procedures for phased retirement and research retirement agreements
  • Emeritus Status request and review process
  • Digital offboarding information and systems access from Information Technology
  • Adventures of Associate Professor Emeritus Dr. Bruce Bayly 

We hope this video overview helps provide a place to start for anyone curious about the various aspects of faculty retirement.    

Emeritus is an honorary status granted to faculty who have made exceptional contributions to the university and their discipline. It is considered a distinction to retain this title after retirement. Faculty may be considered for emeritus status if they have served 15 years or more at the University of Arizona. Special exceptions to the years of service requirement are considered on a case-by-case basis for those who have significant contributions to the mission of the university. See UHAP 3.1.05 and UHAP 4A.1.01.

Emeritus status allows faculty who are retired to continue participating in university activities, if they choose, including continuing to mentor students, occasionally teach, and participate in grants or finish specific research objectives. Emeritus faculty are entitled to library services, email, access to parking, access to certain equipment and technological resources within their academic unit, and other benefits that the university grants to retirees. Faculty who will participate in externally funded research projects will need to request designated campus colleague (DCC) status through their department head. Access to university business systems automatically terminates at the time of the employee retirement so new system access for emeritus faculty must be provisioned by their department after obtaining DCC status. 

Departments will endeavor to provide some support for reasonable scholarly needs of emeritus faculty consistent with their continuing contributions to the mission of the department and university. However, support may be limited based on the availability of resources, given other needs and priorities within the department. Specific agreements should be documented in writing and for a specified period.

Instructions for Requesting Title Change to Emeritus

STEP 1

The faculty member submits a request to the department head, chair, or unit director and includes a current CV.

STEP 2

The department head, chair, or unit director submits a letter of support to the dean or senior administrator and states the significant contributions of the faculty member.

STEP 3

The dean or senior administrator provides endorsement of support with a signature, or a separate approval memo addressed to the Provost.

STEP 4

The unit representative (not the faculty member) submits the request via Arizona Cultivate and attaches the above documents (faculty’s request, current CV, department head, chair, or director’s letter of support, and the dean/senior administrator’s endorsement). To view a video on the Arizona Cultivate submission process, please click here.

Timeline

It is strongly recommended that faculty request emeritus status early within their final year before retirement. Once the request has been submitted to Arizona Cultivate, a minimum of three months is required for this type of request to be reviewed by all necessary parties before a final decision is provided in a letter from the President. In order to ensure that faculty members have no break in access to university resources, they must have emeritus status approved before their last day as an active employee.

Faculty Affairs will review emeritus requests on a rolling basis on the last Friday of every month. 

Review Process

The received request for emeritus status is reviewed by the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. Recommendations are forwarded to the Executive Office of the President for the official letter granting the status to the faculty member upon retirement. 

Notifications

Original emeritus award letters are sent directly to the faculty member and an electronic copy is emailed to the college and department or unit for internal processing. The department or unit must complete the termination/retirement form in UAccess Employee and provide the electronic copy of the emeritus letter from the President to Workforce Systems.

For questions about emeritus requests, please send an email to facultyaffairs@arizona.edu