This year, America has reached a milestone in demography - the first wave of baby boomers has turned 62, the age at which workers become eligible for retirement Social Security benefits.
The term "baby boom" refers to a population increase that occurred in the wake of World War II and lasted until the early 1960s. Forty-two percent of the University's 3,200 faculty members and 40 percent of its 10,900 staff members can be classified as boomers.
Julien Carter, associate vice president for human resources, said that within the next five to seven years, 40 percent of UT's faculty and staff could be heading out the door.
But the milestone should not cause University officials to expect a large chunk of their professors to retire overnight, said Paul Yakoboski, researcher for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund, a financial services company.
"Retirement ages tend to be kind of spread out. People in the non-academic world tend to take their retirement cues from Social Security," Yakoboski said, "Academics are a bit different. They may well work into their late 60s, early 70s. It doesn't mean most academics will retire like clockwork. But you are looking at a situation where inevitably people will be retiring."
Yakoboski said most universities give professors lighter teaching loads to help ease their transition into retirement.
Universities also offer professors financial incentives to encourage early retirement. A buyout, in which the University pays a portion of an employee's contract up front, would allow the University to save money in the future by reducing the amount of staff salaries.
Carter said generations following the boomers may want more flexibility, rewards and to work from home some days, whereas boomers have been comfortable working at the office Monday through Friday.
Mark Smith, an associate professor of American studies and expert in American social and cultural history, said he sees his younger colleagues as professionally oriented. Younger professors are more interested in advancing their careers by publishing works, he said, whereas older professors are more focused on teaching.
"Maybe it's just because they're younger and trying to secure their futures," Smith said.
Smith and classics professor Thomas Palaima said there is a greater emphasis on financial success today and that the focus may begin with choosing a major based on salary expectations.
A lack of funding for faculty salaries is forcing older professors to teach introductory courses normally taught by professors with less experience, Palaima said.
"I see junior faculty and senior faculty who would say they're working as hard as they've ever worked," Palaima said. "Quite frankly, limitations have been imposed on them."
High student-to-teacher ratios are holding UT down in national rankings that gauge the educational quality of universities, and a lack of financial support from the state is directly connected to the University's inability to hire new professors, Palaima said.
"The conditions are just not good. People are frustrated," he said. "It is disturbing to hear faculty approaching retirement saying, 'I want to get out of here,' where before they were saying, 'I want to stay in.'"
