Appointment of Faculty to Emeritus/a Status
The Faculty Handbook allows for tenured faculty and faculty outside the tenure structure to be awarded emeritus/a status. Emeritus/a status is not automatically granted upon retirement: an application for emeritus/a status must be made to the Office of the Provost by the department chair and/or dean. Such status shall be granted at the discretion of the provost.
Criteria for Emeritus/a Faculty Status
- Standing. Faculty member must be in good standing with the department, school, and university at the time of retirement and must have performed their expected responsibilities with distinction and professionalism to the credit of the department/school.
- Retirement criteria. Faculty member must have retired from Brandeis. For instance, a faculty member cannot retire from another institution and apply for emeritus/a status at Brandeis. As long as a faculty member meets all of the requirements for retirement and receiving emeritus/a status they may go to another position.
- Length of service. All faculty, whether tenured or OTS, must have been on the faculty full-time for at least 15 years. Years of part-time service, gaps of employment or other situations that may have a bearing on length of service at the time of application will be considered by the Provost on a case-by-case basis and weighted with the other contributions of the faculty member. Additionally, faculty hired to the administration are exempt from this requirement.
- Contributions. Faculty member must have made a significant contribution to the intellectual, collegial, and/or administrative capital of the institution.
Procedure
- Recommendation. The department chair or dean shall prepare a recommendation to the Provost detailing that the faculty member applying for emeritus/a status meets the criteria. If the faculty member does not meet all of the criteria, a strong case should be made for why status should be granted. A copy of the most current CV of the faculty member should be attached to recommendation. For tenured faculty, this recommendation should precede the development of any retirement agreement that includes emeriti status. In general, the recommendation should be received at least 90 days prior to the retirement date.
- Review. The Office of the Provost shall review the recommendation for emeritus/a status submitted by the department chair or dean and, if the faculty member meets all of the requirements described above, the request will be approved. If a faculty member does not meet the requirements, only under extraordinary conditions will the emeritus/a status be approved. If approval is withheld, a brief written explanation will accompany the determination.
- Title. Emeritus/a title will be determined based upon faculty rank at the time of retirement (i.e., if faculty member was Associate Professor at the time of retirement, their title will be “Associate Professor Emeritus/a”). Whenever gift or grant agreements allow, faculty may retain their endowed chair title, appended with "emeritus" or "emerita."
Office of the Provost
2022