Des Moines Register
09-20-06
Iowa's college professors edge toward retirement
Some say it'll be hard to find experienced replacements
By LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU
Ames, Ia. — Iowa college students today are more likely to learn from older,
more experienced professors than students a decade ago, but as baby boomer
faculty members approach retirement, some professors worry that their
classrooms and laboratories could be filled by second-rate replacements.
The number of faculty members older than 50 has increased by nearly 200 at
Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of
Iowa in the past five years, while the total number of faculty hired in that time has
increased by only 100, data from the universities show.
At ISU alone, the average age has increased 10 years since 1990. Today, the
average age is 57, data show.
Iowa is not alone. The number of professors nationwide in 2003 who worked past
the age of 65 increased by more than 10,000 from 1992, U.S. Department of
Education data show.
The aging of professors creates a challenge for universities as they plan for the
next wave of retirements.
Baby boomers are more likely to work past retirement age, which prevents
turnover and can be costly, because full professors, who earned about $97,500
on average at ISU in 2005-06, command higher pay. That year, a lecturer at ISU
made an average of $38,100. At the same time, universities in Iowa are
struggling with declining state appropriations, which makes it difficult to offer
competitive packages to attract great replacements for the senior faculty who
leave, leaders said.
"We've been replacing senior faculty, perhaps not as quickly as we want to," said
Jim Lubker, UNI's interim provost and vice president for academic affairs.
As ISU considers a new budgeting process, some discussion has already
focused on whether the proposed process could prevent administrators from
hiring the best possible replacements. Some say the budget model, which ties
department budgets to the number of students taught, could cause more
department leaders to hire lecturers, who do not have the job protection that
tenured faculty members have, because they are easier to let go if a major loses
students.
Lecturers bring workplace knowledge to the classroom, rather than the cutting
edge research that tenured faculty are often expected to produce. At ISU and the
U of I, the number of tenured faculty employed has already been on the decline
since 2002, while more nontenure-track instructors and lecturers have taken the
helm, a trend leaders blame on declining state appropriations.
At the U of I, more than 80 percent of faculty employed in 2002 was either
tenured or on a tenure track, compared with 76 percent in 2006. At ISU, 57
percent of faculty were tenured in 2005, compared with 59 percent in 2002.
Several undergraduates interviewed at ISU said they preferred tenured
professors with expertise in their discipline. Many underclassmen said too many
of their classes are taught by teachers' assistants, rather than by professors.
"In the summer I got taught by all TA's and I absolutely hated it - I didn't learn
anything," said ISU junior Mary Buenaventura of Grimes, who recalled having a
particularly hard time with a teacher who taught economics.
She said she preferred experienced, tenured professors who offer more
knowledge and context regarding their subject matter.
Leaders at U of I and ISU said they have worked to hire exceptional faculty
members by securing private money for endowed professor positions, which
recognize exceptional leaders in a field, and give professors more spending
power for research.
The endowments are not used for entry-level faculty positions.
Endowments are used to "make the overall position more attractive, not to
replace the general fund," ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said.
The decline of tenure or tenure-track faculty hired has worried ISU professors
who see retirement in their future and trouble for the next generation.
"The tenured faculty are what make Iowa State University a good university,"
said Bob Stephenson, an ISU professor of statistics who expects to retire in
about 10 years.
"They're the ones that have chosen to stay here; that really add value to the
university through teaching students, through doing research, through economic
outreach, through all those things. Without them and the students, you wouldn't
have a university," he said.
Lately, it has been more difficult to make long-term hiring plans based on
expected retirements, because more professors are working past their mid-60s,
said Brenda Behling, assistant to the ISU provost.
She said faculty members in their 70s have applied for a phased retirement
program that allows them to leave academic life slowly.
The number of faculty members who are 80 at ISU also has increased. There
were four as of 2005. A year ago, there was one. Before that, there were none,
Behling said.
At the three state universities there are 59 professors age 70 and older - 10 more
than there were in 2002, data show.
"I hear things like the baby boomer generation wants more flexibility: They are at
retirement age, but not wanting to retire yet," Behling said.
When senior faculty retire, it creates a vacancy, which might make way for a new
Ph.D., or someone with a fresh view on a discipline, she said.
"This would be a fear - that we had a surge of retirements and wouldn't be able to
hire people quickly enough," Behling added.
The number of faculty who choose to work past retirement has crept up since
retirement plans for faculty have changed.
In 2001, the Iowa Board of Regents voted to abolish an early retirement incentive
program, which provided incentives in retirement contributions and payment of
health, dental and life insurance to those who retired between the ages of 57 and
63 with the required number of years employed by the university.
The board voted that way after employee groups and university administrators
complained that low unemployment rates and the need to replace the employees
who participated in the incentive program made it unattractive.
At the time of the vote, ISU advocated continuing the program, which allowed for
some turnover for planning purposes.
"There are many, many older faculty members who are fantastic, and there may
be some whose best days are behind them," said Jacqueline King, director of the
center for policy analysis at the American Council on Education.
The perfect professor would be one who identifies with students and has all the
wisdom that years of experience bring, said ISU freshman Brandon Baccam of
Des Moines.
Still, Baccam said he believes more experienced professors often bring the
passion that is lacking in today's new academics.
His older professors, "grew up in an age where society cared," he said.
Proposed ISU budget plan worries some
The subject of age is particularly sensitive at Iowa State University, which is
leaning toward creating a new form of budgeting that funnels money to colleges
based on the number of students taught. Right now, money is distributed in a
lump sum with incremental increases each year.
Some at ISU worry that the new system could further hinder hiring tenure-track
professors with job protection. College leaders could deem that a dangerous
investment they couldn't sustain if that college loses students, then money, they
say.
In a letter to the Iowa State Daily, the campus newspaper, Bob Hollinger, an
ISU professor of philosophy, said he worries so much about the future of
university life, in part because of the change in budgeting, he thanks God he is
retiring in two years.
"If you want to have customers, you have to get them to buy their course,"
Hollinger said. "Then eventually you could lose faculty members who can't get
customers."
That prediction is troubling to Hollinger, who said it turns universities into places
merely to train for "a quick degree and job skills."
"All these things for me add up to a movement whose aim is to narrow the
university to eliminate as many permanent faculty as possible or do online
courses," he said. One of the main arguments for preserving permanent faculty
positions is to honor academic freedom, which "gives people the freedom to
address critical issues in society in critical ways without being punished," he said.
Ellen Rasmussen, ISU associate vice president for budget and planning
who is also a member of a committee that studies how to implement the
proposed budget philosophy, said she does not believe the new approach would
hurt the number of tenured or tenure-track professors.
"The enrollment doesn't spike that hugely that I think that it affects the number,"
she said, adding that the new configuration could help when a new piece of
curriculum has been created and organizers can predict a regular influx of
students over a sustained period of time.
"Then you know you have that margin of tuition dollars available," she said.