Medical school offers buyouts to faculty

The UNC School of Medicine is testing a new program which incentivizes retirement for tenured faculty members.

The Faculty Retirement Incentive Program is an available retirement option for tenured faculty members eligible for retirement.

It serves as an alternative to UNC’s phased retirement program.

Faculty who apply to the program before September 30 will receive 100 percent of their total annual salary, with the payment then dropping to 80 percent.

The program will stop accepting applications November 30. Professors who choose to participate in the program will retire by April 30.

Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the School of Medicine, said the school has a total of approximately 1,650 faculty members. Of that total, he said officials estimate there are about 50 to 60 tenured faculty members who will take part in the new program.

Howard Reisner, a professor in UNC’s pathology program, opted for the phased retirement program instead of the retirement incentive program.

Reisner said a lot of funding for the medical school programs comes from money generated by faculty members.

“Most departments in the medical school expect you, even if you’re a tenured professor, to bring in at least half of your salary,” Reisner said.

He said this money must usually come from several external grants.

Reisner said federal grant money coming from research endeavors is hard to obtain for tenured faculty who focus more on teaching or administrative work.

Reisner said there is a tendency for organizations to give money to younger researchers.

“There are some very good people who have been here for many years and have no trouble bringing in half their salary,” he said. “There’s also people who work very hard and don’t.”

Karen McCall, chief communications and marketing officer for the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health Care, said the optional program, backed by the UNC Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, hopes to provide an alternative to the already existing phased retirement program.

A document endorsed by the Board of Trustees said the program’s goal is to facilitate the release of tenured faculty resources for budget reallocation or reduction.

Once faculty members retire, McCall said it would be up to the department heads to make a determination as to how those positions will be filled in the future.

“For years, we’ve been trying to develop a good transition plan for faculty,” McCall said.

“The school has a plan that allows faculty to go part time before they fully retire, and in some cases, this will be a better transition.”

Reisner said that paying tenured faculty members a year’s worth of salary for a quicker retirement transition can help departments that may have a hard time supporting faculty members who don’t bring in money.

“I think the buyout is a good idea, provided that the faculty member understands that it’s a little sudden.” Reisner said.

“It’s not necessarily the healthiest thing when you suddenly don’t work.”

Reisner said that he preferred the gradual retirement in the phased program, but he believes the new program provides eligible faculty with a good alternative.

Similar programs are available at other universities, including Duke University and Stanford University.

“It’s a perfectly fine motivation, and they’re doing it in a way that values the faculty member as a person,” Reisner said.

“If we didn’t have phased retirement, I might have well used the program.”

university@daiytarheel.com