The days when retiring professors and support staff were sent off with the last paycheck and a formal letter asking for the return of their keys will soon be over. A new program started in July is being developed to help keep employees connected to Binghamton University even after they stop working full-time.
The program will be focused on professional and support staff as well as faculty, and offer them privileges that will help them take an active role on campus.
‘We ran a search and noticed that one-third of employees are eligible to retire, so if you think about everyone on campus, it’s a really large amount of people,’ said Corinna Kruman, retiree services coordinator. ‘We want to get programs running by the time all the baby boomers will retire. We can offer them certain privileges.’
A program called Bartle Professorships has already been available to allow retired professors to remain connected to Binghamton with a part-time position where they could continue teaching and working on research, according to Sylvia Hall, assistant vice president of Human Services. But the new program will include use of the Anderson Center, the Lyceum, the library, Campus Recreation and FitSpace. Retirees will also receive parking passes and tickets to various athletic events occurring on campus. Events such as luncheons, lecture series, trips and presentations about health, travel and other relevant issues are also being planned.
‘We thought of it because we had received feedback from retirees that they would be interested in this kind of opportunity ‘ while they were retiring from their full-time positions, they still wanted to work either periodically or on projects,’ Hall said. ‘So we created the program in response to requests and we really believe it will be a win/win.’
If discounts are available to make things cheaper and the University tries to be more accessible, employees will more likely want to come back to a campus they spent such a significant portion of their lives working at, Kruman said.
Professors may also participate in a pool that could bring them back to campus for temporary jobs, such as mentoring other professors, helping out students as tutors or simply volunteering on campus.
‘We’re not asking for anything, we’re just giving back,’ Kruman said. ‘This is not about money. It’s a service we want to provide to [the retirees].’
Though the project is only a few months into the development process and it’s too early to gauge exactly what the reaction will be, Krumman and Hall said that the program will be well received and will help ease the transition of the baby boomers into retirement, both for the retirees themselves and for Binghamton.