NAU President John Haeger today released details of a one-time Voluntary Separation and Retirement Incentive Program.
About 125 tenured faculty members and academic professionals will be eligible for the program that will be offered this year.
The program affords the university the opportunity to redirect budget resources to other areas of need and obtain budget flexibility by offering eligible individuals a one-time incentive to separate from the university.
To be eligible for the incentive, employees must be tenured faculty who are at least age 62 by June 30 and have served at NAU for at least 10 years. Academic professionals with continuing status who meet the same guidelines also are eligible.
Participants in the program will receive a cash incentive equal to nine months of their base salary for FY10. NAU plans to accept enrollment in the voluntary incentive program between Nov. 16 and Jan. 15. The details of the plan are still being finalized, and additional communications will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.
During his campus forum on Sept. 29, the president challenged faculty and staff to rethink some basic assumptions about the university’s academic programs and business practices. He cited the need to respond more flexibly and more swiftly to changes that society demands.
“We need new programs explicitly tied to the 21st century needs such as green jobs, health informatics, service management, health professions and sustainability,” he said. “The increased budget flexibility that the retirement incentive offers would enable the university to invest in new and growing programs.”
The voluntary program is one-time and is limited to tenured faculty and a few academic professionals. Details can be found here