Faculty Retirement

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The following retirement options are available to Stanford faculty:

1. Normal retirement:  Information about faculty retirement options is available on the University Faculty Affairs website:  https://facultyaffairs.stanford.edu/retirement

2.  Faculty Retirement Incentive Program (FRIP).  This plan is effective on September 1, 2009. Detailed information about this program, including eligibility,  is available at the University Faculty Affairs website.

Retirement Procedures
 
The University Faculty Affairs website provides detailed information designed to ensure that the necessary planning on the part of the faculty member, the department and H&S has taken place.

In addition, in H&S, under any of the options, the following steps should be taken:
 
Faculty Member:
* Discuss retirement date and, if desired, recall options with department chair.
* Complete Notice of Intent to Retire and Application to Participate in the Faculty Retirement Incentive Program (FRIP).
* Send the form to the department chair.
 
Department Chair:
* Sign Notice of Intent to Retire and Application to Participate in the Faculty Retirement Incentive Program (FRIP) form and forward it to the Senior Associate Dean.
 
Senior Associate Dean:
* Sign Notice of Intent to Retire and Application to Participate in the Faculty Retirement Incentive Program (FRIP) form.
* Sign letter of agreement to faculty member, outlining recall agreement (if appropriate) and any other benefits specific to H&S.
* Obtain faculty member’s agreement to conditions stated in letter of agreement.
* Forward letter of agreement and Notice of Intent to Retire and Application to Participate in the Faculty Retirement Incentive Program (FRIP) to Provost’s Office.
 
If you have questions about retirement options, please contact Tina Kass at (650) 726-7603 or tkass@stanford.edu. For questions about Faculty Retirement Incentive Program (FRIP), please contact Cristen Shinbashi in the Provost's Office.


Emeritus Office and Laboratory Space
 
H&S's policy on emeritus faculty office space establishes expectations based on the faculty member's status as a "recalled" member of the faculty:
 
•  Emeritus faculty participating in the H&S Phased-In Retirement Program: During the three-year period of recall, emeritus faculty are generally assigned a private office and/or laboratory space as appropriate and as space is available. NOTE:  This program is no longer available.
•  Emeritus faculty recalled under other programs and/or terms: Recalled faculty outside of the H&S Phased-In Retirement Program are generally assigned a shared office space. Depending on availability of appropriate space, accommodations may range from double occupancy offices to a shared workstation environment designed to support a community of emeritus faculty in the same or related disciplines. Private office space will only rarely be assigned.
•  Emeritus faculty not on recall: Provided space is available, departments may assign non-recalled faculty to a shared office or offer access to an appropriate shared workstation environment. Once again, private office space will only rarely be assigned.
 
Upon making the decision to retire, faculty should discuss a space plan with their department chair based on the expectations described above. This plan should be confirmed in writing by the chair at the time of retirement. Whenever emeritus faculty on recall complete their recall service - whether as part of the Phased-In Retirement Program or not - the space plan should be updated to reflect the change in status. In order to maintain necessary flexibility, such plans are also subject to modification based on other changes in circumstance (including departmental needs, at the discretion of the department chair).  For more information about this policy, please contact Tina Kass at (650) 726-7603 or tkass@stanford.edu.
 


Use of Research Funds by Retired Faculty
 
Faculty may accumulate research support balances from a variety of funding sources during their tenure at Stanford.  Upon a faculty member’s retirement, there is no entitlement to continued access to these funds. Retired faculty may, however, request an exception to this policy, allowing continued use of balances to support ongoing research needs.  Such requests should be directed to the appropriate department chair and must be approved by the Dean.
This policy applies to all faculty who retire on or after September 1, 2009.   Faculty who have retired prior to this date will continue to have access to research balances in accordance with past practice.
For faculty who retire under the Faculty Retirement Incentive Program, after completion of the two years of 50% recall effort, if the Dean has not approved continuing use of research funds, any remaining balances will be analyzed to determine the funding source(s).  The analysis will assume proportional spending from all funding sources.  Following this analysis:
 
•  Unspent general funds and funding from Dean’s Office restricted funds will be returned to the appropriate Dean’s Office funding source.
•  Funding from H&S department or program sources will be returned to the appropriate department or program funding source.
•  Funding from non-Stanford sources may be retained by faculty and spent to support faculty research and scholarly activity.  This funding may provide salary support with the approval of the Dean, so long as there is a demonstrable benefit to the University.  When such accounts go unused for a period of five years, remaining balances will be given to the faculty member’s home department.  Any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Dean.
 
Unused commitments of summer ninths (whether converted to research funds or not) expire on the date of retirement.
 
Department chairs are required to approve all expenditures of emeritus faculty to ensure that expenditures continue to meet University policy standards.  Expenditures must support the research and/or teaching activities of the faculty member.
 
In cases where faculty technically ‘retire’ from Stanford University, but then take another full-time faculty position at another university, unexpended faculty research funding will be returned to the funding source.