Process
In accordance with Faculty Senate Resolution 141 and the Faculty Handbook’s corresponding addition of Section 5.5, Emeritus/a Status for RTE Faculty Process, eligible individuals may request emeritus/a status upon retirement if they have served Cornell for 10 or more years in the following Research, Teaching, and Extension (RTE) faculty titles:
- senior lecturer
- senior research associate
- senior extension associate
- professor of the practice
- associate professor of the practice
- research professor
- associate research professor
- clinical professor
- associate clinical professor
- senior scientist
- senior scholar
- research scientist
- principal research scientist
- librarian
- associate librarian
- archivist
- associate archivist
Eligibility for RTE emeritus status is reserved for those who have served in a qualifying RTE title at Cornell for 10 or more years and who retired from the university after June 30, 2020. The awarding of emeritus/a status for eligible RTE faculty shall be based upon the career contributions of the candidate through teaching, research, advising, administration, extension, and outreach. It is understood that only a subset of these activities is relevant to a particular title. An overall record of meritorious service to the university is expected.
Prior to the established retirement date, the candidate initiates the request in writing to their department chair or unit head, to include the date of retirement and a request to be considered for either emeritus or emerita status. An updated curriculum vita should accompany this request.
The university and RTE faculty in the candidate’s unit who have University Voting Rights should review the case and vote, following the unit’s current established practice. The result of the vote and the department chair or unit head’s recommendation to either approve or deny emeritus/a status is communicated to the dean of the candidate’s college. The dean reviews the file and either approves or denies the request. For a candidate whose appointment is outside of the colleges, the role of dean shall be played by the appropriate vice provost or by the University Librarian if the candidate is appointed in the library.
If the dean approves the request, the unit is responsible for communicating the outcome to the faculty member.
If either the department chair or unit head recommendation is negative, then the candidate is so informed by the dean upon a negative decision the faculty member has the opportunity to respond in writing to the dean and department chair with additional information within 90 days. The final decision to approve emeritus/a status for retiring RTE faculty members is made by the dean, perhaps in consultation with the department chair, dean of faculty, or others.
Upon final approval, a unit representative sends an email to hrpayrollsupport@cornell.edu with the RTE faculty member’s name, title to be conveyed in retirement (please be sure to confirm the faculty member’s preference for the use of emeritus or emerita), unit, department, and effective date of emeritus/a status. Please also notify the Dean of Faculty and CAPE offices by copying deanoffaculty@cornell.edu) on this email. The process is considered complete when the Workday transaction has been processed by the HRIS team.
Administrative Notes
- The Emeritus Process for Professors and Associate Professors remains unchanged.
- Unlike emeritus status for tenured professors and associate professors, emeritus status for RTE faculty is a recognition of distinguished service to the university only and does not confer benefits beyond what is available to all retired academic titleholders.
- Questions regarding this guidance can be directed to acadhr@cornell.edu.
